Newport County Coach Nelson Jardim Highlights Need for Clinical Finishing

Newport County head coach Nelson Jardim stated that his team must exhibit greater ruthlessness when presented with goal-scoring opportunities. This observation follows Saturday’s goalless draw at home against Grimsby Town, a match in which Kyle Hudlin’s 59th-minute penalty attempt was saved. As a result, the Exiles have managed to score only once across their last three League Two fixtures. Following the match, Jardim commented, “You have to focus on the overall performance of the team, I thought we were good, the better team, better team in terms of everything basically. But the main one is to create goal-scoring chances, where again we didn’t score and a second game at home that we missed a penalty as well.” While the scarcity of goals continues to be a concern, securing a clean sheet and a point after experiencing consecutive league defeats was considered a positive development, particularly given Newport’s ongoing injury challenges throughout the current campaign. Jardim further elaborated, stating, “I don’t think I had a chance to settle things in terms of the back four. I’ve been always forced to change things around with the Shane [McLoughlin] injury and then Matt Baker was a couple of games out because he was playing for Wales and then Clarkey [James Clarke] was injured, and then [Kyle] Jameson got sent off.” He continued, “So I’ve been forced to play, I’m looking to make sure we’ve got a consistent manner of play, and obviously playing that back four that we feel is the best one week in week out will help us to be consistent. But again positives was, we were okay because we managed to have more of the ball as well and I think it’s also positive the point.” Jardim also remarked, “One third of the league games are gone now, I’ve got 20 points. I would say now, there are still 30-odd games to go, how quick can you get another 10 wins, and we will focus on that.” Newport currently occupies the 15th position in the table and is scheduled for a challenging away match this Saturday against sixth-placed Notts County, with a kick-off time of 12:30 GMT.