IT WAS honours even at Rodney Parade as Mickey Demetriou's first-half opener for Newport County AFC was cancelled out by Max Biamou's equaliser 11 minutes from time to earn Coventry City a point. Here's what we learned...
1. The underdogs bared their teeth again
Michael Flynn suggested last week that his players tend to struggle when they are the favourites to win and, just like against Luton Town a fortnight ago, they raised their game against one of the big boys at Rodney Parade.
County were unrecognisable from the team that performed so poorly against Crewe Alexandra, particularly in an impressive second half against the Sky Blues and the challenge now is to match that display at struggling Chesterfield on Monday.
Great atmosphere today good bounce back performance from us unlucky not to get all 3 points love the banter with the cov fans wish them all the best this season great club loved my time there 🤙🏿 ....rest now game Monday try finish as high as we can this season 💛
— Frank.Nouble (@FrankNouble) March 30, 2018
2. Goals not too far away for luckless Amond
Padraig Amond is still without a goal since the end of January but he must be asking himself what he has to end his barren spell after being denied by a world-class save from Lee Burge and an acrobatic clearance from Dominic Hyam within a minute.
The Irishman also played a part in Mickey Demetriou’s strike with a clever flick on and it surely won’t be long before the goals start to flow again.
3. Hayes’ body struggling to keep up
The example of Kevin Ellison, and Jamie Cureton in recent seasons, shows that Paul Hayes could have many more years ahead of him at this level but it appears his creaking body is letting him down at the moment.
The day after his hat-trick against Forest Green earlier this month he joked on Twitter that he was ‘struggling to walk’ and he was forced off at half-time yesterday with a different calf problem to the one that saw him miss the Luton match.
4. White is human after all
After struggling at right-back last week, Ben White endured another difficult afternoon at Rodney Parade and it was his error that gave Coventry the chance to rescue a point.
It’s only because he has been so consistently excellent since arriving from Brighton & Hove Albion that his rare off-days stand but it’s proof, if it were needed at 20, that he’s not yet the finished article.
@neilcork68
— Robbie Willmott (@WillmottRobbie) March 30, 2018
Instead of continuing to slate me on every social media site I'm inviting you to the training ground and you can tell me what the problem is . Win lose or draw your negative towards me so come and tell me the problem
5. Willmott riled by criticism
In contrast to White, who had to be consoled as he left the pitch at the end, Robbie Willmott got a well-deserved standing ovation when he was forced off in the second half.
Willmott has taken a lot of stick from some fans on social media this season and, after an impressive display, he took one supporter to task on Twitter and invited the individual to the Exiles training ground to discuss the matter.
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