WHEN Justin Edinburgh departed Newport County for Gillingham even though we were all told he wasn’t going to go, I wrote, knowing almost certainly that the Exiles were going to go the other way, that they should look to appoint his permanent successor ASAP.

I haven’t changed my view that it was worth the gamble of a new manager upsetting things and County potentially falling away from the play-off spots for the long term benefits of showing haste in an appointment, because it would have allowed the new man to decide who he liked and who he didn’t for next season.

I understand now, as I did then – though I don’t agree with it - the logic of giving the job to Jimmy Dack, but only until the end of the season. He knows the players. They like him. It allows for continuity and minimises the impact of Edinburgh’s departure.

The fact is, County have fallen away from the play-offs and they have lost momentum. They’ve been a very, very unpredictable side under Dack (in every aspect apart from the formation) producing some of the best and worst form they’ve exhibited in their entire tenure in the Football League.

The Exiles might also have felt they owed loyalty to Dack who stayed loyal to them, but this continual caveat from County’s manager that he’s only here until the summer and happier as a number two is less an addendum and more a giant cloud hanging over his role. It makes everything seem like transition, because the season is going to end, Dack is probably going to leave, and then what?

If County don’t appoint a new boss until June, half the squad or more could have agreed deals elsewhere, if they so wish. It must always be a manager or a director of football who decides on player recruitment. Always, this isn’t something any Newport director could or should be involved with. They set the budget. The manager fills it.

That’s a troubling situation looming, but the fact is, much as Dack’s temporary status as manager makes this period feel transitional and unsettling, the only thing that’s black and white at the moment is that County are just two points off the League Two play-offs.

Not, as was the case last term, worrying at this point week on week as to the narrowing of the gap between the Exiles and the side 23rd in League Two, but two measly points away getting back into the top seven. And if County beat Luton tonight, they’ll be one point behind the Hatters. One point. Behind a club whose average attendance this season is over 8000 and who were tipped by nearly everyone as potential champions this term.

This season is far from dead for the Exiles, even if they are increasingly looking like a side and a squad who are going to let it all slip, who are going to finish drifting towards an uncertain summer.

We now need to see some boldness from Dack, some flexibility, because the narrow 4-4-2 he’s deployed for most of his short tenure is only looking effective away from home.

County don’t have a single winger in their ranks due to Edinburgh building it for playing 5-3-2 or 4-3-3 with three strikers in the advanced roles, rather than a number nine with two wingers.

Where was I when 5-3-2 became a bad thing for County? Did I miss something? I can’t understand why it’s been so unceremoniously dumped.

It’s not like County don’t have the personnel. Anyone who watched the Exiles’ youth side in action against Cardiff last week will have been reminded just how good Regan Poole is, because he stood out like a sore thumb. If you’ll excuse the rather lazy cliché, he did look like a man playing in a boys’ game. Ismail Yakubu’s injury increases the need for three central defenders, because Kevin Feely looks shaky in a four.

Dack might well have good instincts for abandoning Edinburgh’s system (I’ve been wrong before, you might say), but if he’s sold on 4-4-2 for the remainder of the campaign, perhaps some changes in personnel are possible and would be beneficial.

There is no dressing up County’s Friday Night Lights showing against Cheltenham, because not even coach Taylor would be feeling confident about playing Luton on the back of that one. The Exiles have been extremely poor in the Morecambe and Cheltenham games and only marginally better against Mansfield and have taken one point from three winnable fixtures. Surely time to mix things up.

Mark Byrne has been superb this season, which is probably why he’s played 34 of Newport’s 36 league games. But he now looks like he’s running on fumes. Ditto Lee Minshull, who has also played 34 games this term.

Meanwhile Mike Flynn, still a good option in League Two, seems to have played about ten minutes football in months. And if not Flynn, Tom Owen-Evans could be worth a shout. County need some freshening up because in the last three games, only Adam Chapman has caught my eye as being ‘in-form,’ aside from full-backs David Tutonda and Ryan Jackson. Robbie Willmott playing more than a game without picking up a niggle would be massively important as well.

Most of all, of course, County need goals, they need their strikers to deliver and they probably need to pick two and try to give them a run together.

Miles Storey, injuries aside, is sure to be one on current form and if the other is to be Aaron O’Connor, the Exiles need to play much, much less direct. O’Connor wasn’t effective at all on Friday until the introduction of Rene Howe and surely it’ll be O’Connor who gets the nod against the Hatters tonight, given his history?

But I’d like to see Joe Parker sooner rather than later and it’s not a silly shout to suggest that Aaron Collins could be worthy of some first team involvement.

He’s got great pace and some trickery to his game and while he can be blinkered and tries to be a little bit Roy of the Rovers, it is unlikely more senior teammates would tolerate that for long and he might just provide a spark.

County need to change their approach because they owe their supporters - who were magnificent on Friday – a big performance. It would have been very easy for fans to turn given recent home performances and scorelines in a dismal first period, but they didn’t.

The least they deserve is some invention. County are never lacking for commitment or endeavour and in League Two, it’s entirely expected to sometimes be short of quality.

But County fans have seen 4-4-2 and the same personnel fail to register a win in four home clashes and it’s time for a different approach.

Because despite all our recent doom and gloom, the league table really doesn’t lie. And this season is far from over for Newport County AFC.