MICHAEL Flynn is sick and tired of opposition managers dismissing Newport County AFC as a ‘set-piece side’ after League Two matches.

Carlisle United boss Keith Curle was the latest to highlight County’s phenomenal record of scoring goals from throw-ins, corners and free-kicks.

All six goals in the 3-3 thriller came from set-pieces – three free-kicks for the Exiles and two long throws and a short corner for the Cumbrians.

“I was quite interested to see Keith Curle’s comments because he must have been watching a completely different game to me,” said Flynn ahead of tomorrow’s visit to Cambridge United.

“But we’re going to get that now – other managers covering their own back.

“Yes we’ve got a long throw and yes we will use it but some of the football we played was excellent and I’m a little bit disappointed because I’ve got a lot of time for Keith and his staff.

“Sometimes you’ve got to say that you were outplayed by Newport.

“And I know it’s not a good thing to say when we’re such a small club but sometimes you’ve got to give credit to your opponents.

“But a lot of manager’s won’t be giving us any compliments after they’ve struggled against us and I can see why their looking after their own backs.”

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Flynn continued: “It’s nice to see that other managers are talking about how we play and the strengths we use.

“We score from set-plays. We’ve got good set-play delivery – we work on them – but some of the world’s biggest tournaments have been won on set-plays.

“Look at the France v Brazil World Cup final [in 1998] when two out of the three goals came from set-plays.

“And Champions League finals as well – Man United beat Bayern Munich [in 1999] from two set-plays.

“It’s massively important at any level and we work on it a lot.

“We’ve got good delivery and we’re scoring a lot of them but our other play has been very good for the majority of the time.

“There have been times when we’ve not been good enough but we’re all entitled to an off day and the players have been magnificent this season.”

County go into tomorrow’s match at the Abbey Stadium just a point below the play-off positions with 31 points from 21 games.

“I think we’re way further ahead compared to where I thought we’d be at this stage,” said Flynn.

“We only stayed up with a few minutes to go last season and now we’re a point off the play-offs and in the FA Cup third round for only the second time in 32 years.

“I think it’s been a very good season so far, considering what we’ve had to put up with over the last few years.

“The style of play has been a lot better but we can still improve and hopefully we’ll be able to afford one or two who can take us on the next level.

“We need the same kind of fight as last season,” added the Exiles boss.

“We need to fight to the end again because at the moment we’re going at 1.5 points per game.

“If we carried on like that into the last two games of the season we’re going to be in with a shout of the play-offs [on 69 points].

“If we can continue that then great. If we can do a little bit better and relax in the last two games of the season then even better.

“If we don’t then there’s something to improve on at the beginning of next season.”

Flynn knows the busy Christmas period could be make or break for his side’s play-off hopes.

“We’ve got to hang in there,” he said.

“For a squad like ours it’s so important now that we don’t get any silly suspensions or any injuries because until we get to January we’ve got what we’ve got.

“If everybody’s fit then it’s more than good enough. If not then we struggle.

“We lose a little bit of that intensity and that little bit of quality if certain players are out.

“But we’ve dug deep all season and we’ll continue to do that right through until the beginning of May.”