NEWPORT County AFC saw their unbeaten home run ended by Colchester United last night as goals from Ryan Jackson and Mikael Mandron saw the visitors claim all three points despite Shawn McCoulsky's late consolation. Here's what we learned...
1. Birthday curse for County managers
Back in November 2008, Dean Holdsworth’s Exiles team was walloped 5-1 at home by Hayes & Yeading on his 40th birthday.
And Graham Westley turned 49 on the same day as THAT 4-0 hammering at the hands of Leyton Orient in March – five days before he was sacked – so perhaps Michael Flynn got off lightly on his 37th birthday.
2. Anyone can beat anyone
County were on a real high after Saturday’s 4-0 win at Forest Green Rovers, while Colchester arrived in Newport in 16th position in League Two after a 1-0 home defeat to Carlisle United.
But the Essex outfit went home from Rodney Parade with the three points after a disciplined away performance and Forest Green earned a shock win at Coventry City to highlight the difficulty in predicting anything in League Two.
3. Labadie leaves a big hole
The skipper missed a glorious chance to give his side the lead inside two minutes and then limped out of the contest after a quarter of an hour in a big blow for Michael Flynn’s men.
Substitute Sean Rigg offered plenty of threat going forward but, as proved at Morecambe last month, County don’t really have a like-for-like replacement for their influential captain.
Big away win and team performance back to winning ways! Happy to get another goal #👏🏾#ColU pic.twitter.com/OhkneTrrS2
— Ryan Jackson (@R_Jacko) October 17, 2017
4. Jackson has found his scoring touch
Ryan Jackson enjoyed two successful seasons at Rodney Parade under Justin Edinburgh and Jimmy Dack as a rampaging right-back but he never found the net in more than 70 appearances.
But he’s made up for lost time since moving on, having netted three times in two seasons at Gillingham, and his second goal in 12 appearance for Colchester was a dagger to the heart of former teammates Joe Day and Flynn.
5. Hayes will offer something different
Shawn McCoulsky scored his third goal in eight days and his second after coming off the bench but Michael Flynn would have loved the option to bring on an experienced front man at 2-0 down.
Paul Hayes wasn’t signed in time to feature last night but the 34-year-old could well prove an invaluable man to have on the bench if County are chasing the game of looking to close out a tight encounter.
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