NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn showed he’s not afraid to make tough decisions with a double change to spark a second-half revival against Crawley Town, and he could mix things up for Saturday’s trip to Colchester United.
Flynn withdrew both Danny McNamara and Jamille Matt at half-time last night with his side trailing 1-0 to Crawley at Rodney Parade.
George Nurse and Corey Whitely both made an impact after the break and fellow substitute Tristan Abrahams earned the Exiles a point as he scored from the penalty spot with his first touch.
Abrahams had two chances to win the game in stoppage-time as he guided one shot onto the post and saw another cleared off the line by visiting skipper Tom Dallison.
“We should have won the game,” said Flynn. “It wasn’t to be, but we showed great character to come back from a losing position.
“We’ve played worse and won. That was a good performance.
“We changed the formation at half-time because I felt we needed more pace on.
“It wasn’t happening for one or two, so we changed it.
“And we’ve got the strength in depth to do that now.”
Abrahams is one man who could have forced his way into the starting XI at Colchester as Flynn praised the 20-year-old’s cool head to score from the spot straight after taking to the field.
“It was my decision,” said the Exiles boss. “If Tristan’s on, he’ll be taking the penalties.
“It was a lot of pressure on him and I did think about that, but he wanted it and he put it away. Fair play to him.”
Reflecting on a frantic finale, Flynn added: “Tristan hit the post and then he missed quite an easy chance, if I’m honest. That should have been in the back of the net.
“He’s disappointed but he came on and had a very good performance.
“I’m not blaming Tristan. He’s not the reason we didn’t win the game. We should have scored before that.
“He came on, made a lot of those chances and got in the right positions, so I’m sure he’ll score one of those next time.”
County trained today and will enjoy a day off tomorrow before making the long trip to Essex on Friday.
It’s not a journey that the manager is looking forward to: “It’ll be very tough. I think, on their day, Colchester are one of the best teams in the league.
“They’ve got some really good players and I don’t like going down there. It’s going to be tough Saturday afternoon.”
Read more: Newport County 1 Crawley Town 1 - the talking points
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