NEWPORT County AFC striker Ade Azeez admits it took a half-time “rocket” from manager Michael Flynn to spark the players into life against Cheltenham Town.

Flynn described the first-half performance as “disgusting” and he and assistant manager Wayne Hatswell both laid into the players during the break on Friday night.

David Pipe and Josh Sheehan were introduced for the second half and County were much-improved, earning a deserved win thanks to a Chris Hussey own goal.

Speaking to iFollow Exiles, Azeez said: “It was a great win. It was a very tough first-half. Maybe we didn’t play our best football but we dug in there and we upped it a fraction for the second-half.

“We caused Cheltenham a lot more trouble after that and set the tone better in the second-half. It still wasn’t pretty but it was just one of those games.

“I felt we were the better team and it was an excellent three points.”

Asked to explain the poor start, Azeez said: “Sometimes football is like that – I don’t really know what it was, but we really didn’t start off well at all.

“We knew that as players. We tried to get each other going and it maybe took until the gaffer and Hats gave us a rocket at half-time to perform better.

“I think we did prove that we want to play for this club, we proved we wanted to fight for the club and the fans as well.

“There were two different approaches. The gaffer let us know, he’ll never hold back and neither does Hats really.

“They both had their opinions, didn’t hold back and it did help us. We went back out there and just wanted to prove to them, the fans and ourselves that we could go out there and get the three points.

“I wouldn’t say it was two bad cops because it worked. It shouldn’t take that to get us going but I feel like it worked for us.”

South Wales Argus:

With next week’s home clash against Oldham Athletic postponed due to the Latics’ international call-ups, the Exiles are not in action again until the trip to Yeovil Town on March 30 and Azeez is looking forward to a rest.

“It’s important to relax,” said the 25-year-old deadline day signing. “I’ll be getting the muscles relaxed because I’ve only played a handful of games since coming back from injury, so I am feeling stiff at the moment that’s for sure.

“I’ll relax, take it easy and be ready to come back and prepare for the Yeovil away game.

“I can start looking around as well for accommodation,” he added. “We all know how long these things can take.

“I can settle in a bit more, it’ll give me more time to get things sorted off the pitch.

“I feel everything happens for a reason, we’ve had a lot of games in the last few weeks, so it’ll be nice to relax the body, keep ticking ourselves over ready to go again for the last nine fixtures.”

After Saturday’s matches, County are six points below sixth-placed Forest Green Rovers with a game in hand.

“The play-offs are still on,” insisted Azeez. “I never felt like it was off. I know we had two bad results on the road but this win against Cheltenham was important and we’re still on track.

“Every game is another opportunity at redemption, especially away from home because we haven’t been great, and we’ll look to put that right. I feel like we’ve got the squad to do that.”

Read more: The talking points from 1-0 win over Cheltenham Town