Newport head coach Nelson Jardim hailed a “massive win” as his side ended a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over in-form Crewe at Rodney Parade.
Cameron Evans fired the hosts ahead with a right-footed rocket in the 33rd minute and fellow defender Matt Baker headed in the winner on 74 minutes after substitute Adrien Thibaut had briefly drawn Crewe level.
The three points lift some of the pressure on Jardim after successive defeats by Port Vale, Swindon and Barrow had scuppered a promising start to the campaign.
“It was a massive win up against a very good team,” said the Portuguese.
“Today was about us and making sure you could see improvements and that was very obvious with the way the boys competed.
“Sometimes we have got a bit of criticism, but everyone could see we are a good group with good characters. I am proud of them.”
Jardim was particularly proud of the character his side showed to bounce back when Crewe had levelled moments after Bobby Kamwa hit a post at the other end.
“Football can be ruthless,” he added. “When you see that ball hitting the post and rolling all the way across the line, then straight after that they score, and you think, ‘oh Jesus’.
“But this is why we love football, we had to be brave and stand up again, fight again. We were happy to get the goal straight after.”
It was a disappointing way for Lee Bell to mark 100 matches in charge of the Railwaymen and he was not happy with his players’ performance as they failed in their bid to win five successive matches in League Two.
“I thought it was an extremely patchy performance from us throughout the game, with and without the football,” said the Crewe manager, who felt his side should have had a penalty for a challenge on Jack Lankester.
“We gifted them two goals. I thought we deserved to get back into the game, but then you can’t concede straight away – that’s going to cost us in the end, in terms of what points we can pick up.
“I’ve let the players know that I’m not happy. The least we should get out of that is a 1-1 draw.
“We knew they were going through a difficult spell. We knew they’d want to fight, and they did that. We just played into their hands, but the amount of times we got in behind and the final ball let us down – I lost count. It was too rushed.
“There is plenty for us to work on and improve, the worry would be if we didn’t get into those positions.”
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