NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn believes Saturday’s substitutes bench was the strongest since the club returned to the Football League and he may shuffle his pack for tomorrow night’s home clash with Crawley Town.
County beat Scunthorpe United 2-1 at the weekend thanks to goals from Padraig Amond and Josh Sheehan.
That success was achieved with goalkeeper Nick Townsend, defenders Kyle Howkins and George Nurse, midfielder Matty Dolan and forwards Corey Whitely, Tristan Abrahams and Dominic Poleon all left out of the starting XI.
“We’ve got a lot of options,” said Flynn.
“George Nurse was unlucky not to start, and so was Kyle [Howkins].
“But they’ve both reacted in the right way, the way I expected them to react.
“I can’t handle people who sulk. I’ve got not time for that. But they haven’t done that. They’ve been very professional and I can’t speak highly enough of them.”
Asked if there would be changes for tomorrow’s match, the Exiles boss said: “We’ll have a look at it.
“I think it’s the strongest bench we’ve had since we’ve been back in the Football League.
“It’s a very strong bench so we’ve got options. We can change it up.”
Crawley were beaten 2-1 at Bradford City on Saturday but manager Gabriele Cioffi was pleased with their second-half performance at Valley Parade.
“There was a lot of positive stuff,” said the Italian.
“We put them under a lot of pressure and there was a lot of good football.
“We have to challenge Newport with this good. We have a good momentum. We have to keep going.”
Former County loan player Reece Grego-Cox has scored in the last two games for Crawley and he’s excited about what the Reds can achieve this season.
“If we get good results against big sides in and around the play-offs, we can definitely cement our place in the play-offs and then progress on and have a really good season,” said the winger, who made eight appearances for the Exiles in 2016.
“All the lads really believe we can do something really special this season.”
Read more: Newport County boss happy for his team to keep winning the hard way
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