Colchester manager furious after injury news leaked to Newport

Press Association Sport Staff

Colchester manager Danny Cowley was “pretty angry” after revealing news of injuries to two of his senior players was leaked to Newport before his side’s 1-0 defeat at Rodney Parade.

Substitute Tanatswa Nyakuhwa scored the only goal with 11 minutes remaining to seal all three points for the Exiles, who climbed to 12th in the League Two table.

Colchester, who have now gone six matches without a win in the league, dropped to 19th but Cowley’s concern was how news of injuries to forward Kylian Kouassi and defender Sean Raggett made its way to south Wales.

“They knew more than we would have liked them to know to about us, so that’s something we’ve got to go away and look at and try to work out what happened there,” said Cowley, who made it clear he did not blame the Welsh side.

“They had information on us they shouldn’t have had. They knew we’d picked up some injuries in the week, so we’re pretty angry about that.”

Newport boss Hayden Mullins conducted his post-match media duties before Cowley’s revelations so he was not asked about the matter.

But he was happy to concentrate on a hard-fought win that extended his side’s unbeaten run to five league games.

“It was a tough game,” said Mullins. “I think Colchester came with a gameplan and it was tough. The wind made conditions tough and it was hard to get our game going in the first half.

“Thankfully Tan comes on and nicks the winner and it was a good team performance in the end. There were plenty of positives in there.

“I think we always had the belief. We know what we’re good at and we don’t try to do anything that we might struggle with. We know how to cause issues for the opposition and make it tough for them.”

In a game of few clear-cut chances, substitute Yahya Bamba had the home side’s best opportunity of the first half when he was put through on goal by Shaquille Gwengwe but his heavy touch allowed U’s goalkeeper Thimothee Lo-Tutala to smother the danger.

Exiles number one Jordan Wright made his only proper save on 69 minutes to turn substitute Bradley Ihionvien’s shot round the post, before Matty Jacob picked out Cardiff loanee Nyakuhwa to score the winner for his hometown club.

“In a very close game, where there was very little in it, we made a mistake that led to their goal,” said Cowley. “And we didn’t have quite enough quality in the final action to be able to get on the right side of the game.”

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