NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn believes his side would be top of the League Two table if it weren’t for their mounting injury problems.

Jamille Matt and substitute Cameron Pring were both on target as County beat promotion rivals Colchester United at Rodney Parade on Saturday.

The three points saw the Exiles climb above the visitors to reclaim third spot in the table after 18 games.

But victory again came at a cost for the hosts, who lost Robbie Willmott to a hamstring injury in the first half.

Scot Bennett was also forced off with hamstring trouble during the Checkatrade Trophy win over Plymouth Argyle last Tuesday.

They join Tyler Forbes, Joss Labadie and Andrew Crofts on the sidelines and the manager could not hide his disappointment at losing Willmott.

“It’s a hamstring again and it’s getting too much now,” said Flynn.

“It’s really doing my head in, I’ve never seen anything like it.

“Contrary to the sceptics who say we’re training too hard, it’s not that, we monitor everything on the GPS and know exactly what they do and don’t do.

“It’s not ideal and I think if it wasn’t for the hamstring injuries we would be top of the league.”

Pring, who replaced Willmott after 34 minutes, has just returned from injury and he took his chance to impress.

The 20-year-old, who is on loan from Bristol City along with Tyreeq Bakinson and Antoine Semenyo, raced on to Bakinson’s through-ball to score his first goal in senior football and almost added a second at the death.

“At the end, when he was sprinting against Ryan Jackson, I wanted him to stop because I didn’t want his hamstring to go,” said Flynn.

“It’s crazy that I’m having to think like that, but I’m really pleased for him.

“He took his goal so well, it was a great pass from Tyreeq to go with the patterns we’ve been working on, and that was the most pleasing thing for me as a manager.

“We were thinking of starting Cameron because of Ryan Jackson,” he added.

“He’s a very good League Two right-back, if not the best in the league, so you’ve got to watch him going forward.

“He’s so quick and so strong but we knew we’d be able to get in behind him because he leaves gaps and that’s something we worked on.”

And the injury to Willmott didn’t dampen Flynn’s mood too much after the final whistle.

“It’s a very good day,” he said. “Whenever you win 2-0 against one of the top teams in the league you’ve got to be happy.

“That’s three clean sheets in a row. We’re third in the league and it’s the middle of November, I’ll never get carried away but it’s a good start.

“There’s been a bit of doom and gloom lately, just imagine if we were having a bad season!”