NEWPORT County AFC head coach Nelson Jardim believes “everything is beginning to come together” after his side secured a third successive win in League Two and their first on the road this season.

The 1-0 victory at Morecambe lifted County up to fourth place in the table after four games.

But the Exiles boss was also quick to point out that there is still plenty of room for improvement and a lot of hard work to do on the training ground.

“It was a great day,” said Jardim, after captain Aaron Wildig scored the only goal.

“We always knew that this game was going to be difficult, and I just want to give praise to the whole team for how they performed. We had to suffer and defend, but we were there to compete.

“We know that this is a result of the hard work we have been doing on the training ground,” added the Portuguese coach.

“The clean sheet was the result of that work and the players getting to know each other, while I am learning more about them. I think we can all see that everything is beginning to come together now and hopefully we can keep going.

“But we know there is a lot of work to be done, and we will go back in on Monday to continue improve – because there were a lot of things that I didn’t like. We will review it and improve.”

County were grateful to goalkeeper Nick Townsend for a number of fine saves, including a superb reflex stop to deny Welshman Gwion Edwards just before half-time.

“Nick has been great,” said Jardim. “He is well known in this league, an experienced keeper, and we are lucky to have him. Today was one of those days when the team needed him, and he was there for us.”

The Exiles are back in action at Rodney Parade tomorrow night (kick-off 7pm) when they host Cheltenham Town in the EFL Trophy. New loan signings Jamie Miley and Kyle Hudlin could make their debuts.

“We are still getting to know these boys and it’s going to take another two or three weeks, but we’ve got cup games now and we’ve got time,” added Jardim.

Club captain James Clarke missed Saturday’s win and after the match, the head coach revealed that a quad injury is likely to sideline the 34-year-old until October.

“Unfortunately, he’s a big loss for us, one of our skippers,” he said. “He’ll be out for at least four weeks. But, as we showed, we’ve got a good group and anyone coming in will do a good job.”