Newport profit from late own goal in play-off push boosting win at Swindon

Newport’s Sky Bet League Two play-off hopes were boosted as Dion Conroy’s 89th-minute own goal saw them secure a 1-0 victory at Swindon.

Louis Reed almost marked his return from suspension by gifting the Exiles an early goal, with Robbie Willmott intercepting a pass on the edge of the box but overpowering the final ball.

The hosts controlled the majority of the first half as Swindon were restricted to shooting from range, but they could not find the finish required to take the lead.

In contrast, Newport struggled to get any attacking foothold in the game and rarely threatened.

Newport’s keeper Joe Day pulled off a wonder stop, diving to his right to deny Jonny Williams from close range and keep the match goalless at half-time.

Swindon remained in control following the restart but, in similar fashion to the first half, they lacked quality in the final third.

Neither side demonstrated the quality required to win this encounter but a last-gasp chance handed Newport victory as Swindon captain Conroy turned Finn Azaz’s cross into his own net.

‘Good feel’

Newport manager James Rowberry said: “At times, we could have done a little bit better today. I understand that. But in general, I was pleased with the performance.

“That wind was really, really strong in the first half and you see when we were trying to get out it was really hard and then second off it’s quite similar to them. It was a game of two halves in many ways.

“I spoke to the lads inside about how it had been a collective and about all of us doing it together.

“It’s about the 26 of us and the staff and the football club and the fans and everybody so there’s a real good feel to the place at the minute.

“We’ve got five games to go and now we’ve got to go again. We’ll go down to the wire but we try to focus on our process performance to get our results right.”