Newport County boss reflects on comfortable Hartlepool United win
Graham Coughlan believes his side were in ‘full control’ of the game against Hartlepool United as Newport County all but secured their League Two status.
The Exiles added to their impressive win over Northampton Town last time out at Rodney Parade by inflicting a first defeat as Hartlepool manager for John Askey with as comfortable a 2-0 scoreline as you are likely to see.
Omar Bogle opened the scoring against his former side early in the first half before Mickey Demetriou doubled the lead on half-time.
Bogle left the Suit Direct Stadium last summer and punished Hartlepool when turning in through a crowd of bodies before Demetriou, the man who scored the winner in the reverse fixture at the Suit Direct Stadium, added a deserved second.
And Coughlan’s side never looked like giving up their lead as they eased to three points, moving them onto 50 for the season and 11 clear of the bottom two.
“I thought we were very good today. We got the reaction that we wanted [from the Stockport defeat],” said Coughlan.
“It came from the first header. The first header was Mickey Demetriou, he went through the header, he punched it right back where it came from and that set the tempo for us, that got us on the front foot.
“The pressing, the energy levels, the all round reaction and the way we played was very, very impressive.
“From the very first minute we gave ourselves a chance of winning the game. Our intensity levels were excellent. The critics might say we should have had a few more but we were very good today.”
Hartlepool failed to muster up anything particularly threatening in the second half until the closing stages with Newport enjoying more than four times as many efforts at goal than Askey's side.
“They had a little chance at the end where we blocked it, literally with Cameron Norman running into the goal post, but that was probably their only real moment of danger. Other than that, I thought we were in full control,” said Coughlan.
"We possibly could have been out of sight. But 2-0 is a dangerous lead. It’s one of those where the next goal is big. It didn’t come and we did a professional job in the second half.”