Hayden Mullins thinking big after Newport defeat Grimsby

Press Association Sport Reporters

Newport County manager Hayden Mullins refused to put a limit on his side’s ambitions after they shocked high-flying Grimsby Town with a 2-1 win at Rodney Parade.

Second-half strikes from Christian Doidge and Shaquille Gwengwe were enough to seal a first league victory since the opening day of the season for the Welsh side, who remain unbeaten at home and now climb to 17th in the table.

Previously unbeaten Grimsby were given hope by an own goal from Exiles goalkeeper Jordan Wright as he fumbled in a shot from substitute Justin Amaluzor in the 83rd minute, but they couldn’t force an equaliser.

“It’s a big win against tough opponents,” said Mullins. “They’re a really good side and they had a lot of it in the first half, but we tweaked it at half-time and we got the two goals.

“The first half was a little bit disappointing but we were pleased to go in at 0-0 and we kicked on in the second half.

“Jordan will be disappointed with the goal we conceded and he’s held his hands up,” added the Exiles boss. “But we stood up to a lot of their threats and it gives us a lot of belief.

“We’re four games unbeaten now and there’s loads to build on. When we play like that and overcome teams like that, then where we want to go this season is entirely down to us.”

Grimsby started the day in third place and could have gone top with a win and manager David Artell was frustrated not to come home with the three points.

“If you don’t take your chances, you don’t win games of football,” he said.

“We’ve had enough chances there to win two games but we haven’t taken them and we got punished for two lapses.”

Grimsby’s Welsh striker Iwan Morgan missed from close range before the break, while County scored from two of their first three shots on target.

Artell also felt his side should have had a penalty when Kieran Green went down under a challenge from Wright.

“We dominated the game of football,” he added. “It should have been 1-0 at half-time – we missed an absolute sitter. The grass is ridiculously long because they play rugby here and the grass has done him, but he knows he should have scored.

“We should never have lost that game. Their second goal was offside and we had a stonewall penalty on Greeny. There’s a higher threshold for a penalty now, which basically means you have to assault a player in the box. They don’t want to give penalties.”

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