Sport

Hayden Mullins happy as Newport ‘lay marker down’ against Rochdale

15 Aug 2026 3 minute read

Newport County v Rochdale. Sky Bet League 2. Newport County Head Coach, Hayden Mullins. Credit: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency

Nation.Cymru staff

New Newport manager Hayden Mullins believes his side have made a statement of intent with a comprehensive 3-0 home win over newly-promoted Rochdale in their League Two opener.

First-half goals from summer signings Kyle Cameron and Shaquille Gwengwe put the Exiles in charge and Dale’s return to the fourth tier went from bad to worse when left-back Bryant Bilongo was shown a second yellow card midway through the second half before Yahya Bamba made it 3-0 in stoppage time.

County fans had to wait until December 29 for their first home win of last season but Mullins was delighted to earn three points at Rodney Parade at the first attempt, even if it could have been more comfortable had Christian Doidge and Ciaran Brennan not been superbly denied by visiting goalkeeper Nils Ramming.

“We know that we need to make our home form really positive this season and we wanted to lay a marker down and I think we did that,” said Mullins.

“The boys deserve massive credit because they went about their jobs really well. They’ve really responded to what I’m trying to put across, they believe in the work that we’ve been doing and they put in a real good shift.

“The noise was fantastic,” added the former West Ham United and Crystal Palace midfielder. “But I think we know we’ve got to give the fans something to shout about. We’ve got to be more aggressive in what we do out of possession and we applied pressure in the right areas. I’m really pleased with the performance.”

Newport County v Rochdale. Sky Bet League 2. Kyle Cameron of Newport County celebrates scoring a goal. Credit: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency

It was a different story for Rochdale boss Ian Watson, who replaced promotion-winning manger Jimmy McNulty after he departed for Stockport County during the summer.

“It was not good,” admitted Watson. “It’s a tough moment for us, for sure. Newport are good at what they do and we knew that if we allowed them to feed balls into the box continuously it was going to be hard for us. And we didn’t prevent them from getting balls into the box, we didn’t prevent set-pieces and we weren’t brave enough with the ball.”

Watson felt his side were too easy to play against and warned that they must toughen up as they prepare for a first League Two match at Spotland in more than three years when they host Crawley next Saturday.

“We have to learn from it and grow from it and get better for next week,” added Watson. “We can’t be a soft team to play against because if you’re a soft team in League Two you’ll get eaten up.”

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