That one’s for the fans – Nelson Jardim happy to reward Newport faithful

Newport boss Nelson Jardim dedicated the 2-0 victory at Gillingham to his club’s faithful fans.

First-half goals from Matt Baker and Kyle Hudlin ended the Exiles’ three-game losing run.

“I’m really satisfied with that,” beamed Jardim. “This win was a really big one for us.

“This win goes entirely to the fans. I know they have been disappointed, especially with the last game.

“I think they deserved this win tonight. There were over 100 fans who made the long journey for a night game. I want to thank them for their support.

“This was the game we needed to bounce back. The boys showed that character that we need.

“Coming up here and defending like this, especially at the end of the game, was really pleasing. Everyone was at their best and it gives us something to build on.

“Both goals were good goals, but that comes after good team work. It was all about the team and their spirit to leave everything out there at the end.

“These boys have been brilliant every day. It’s not easy to go through spells of defeats. It’s where you show the type of person and the character that you’ve got.

“I can assure everyone, and the fans, that if they stick with us and be patient with us then we will only get better.”

While County stopped the rot, they inflicted Gillingham’s fifth straight defeat.

Mark Bonner’s side were top of the table before their poor run started.

And boss Bonner said: “It’s the most dominant we’ve been by miles in a game, but it doesn’t matter. You just can’t talk about that in the end.

“The run of results we’re on is rotten and it just becomes a horrible night for us with a horrible result.

“We can’t lose that game, we just can’t lose that game. I thought we were way better than they were, but we haven’t done enough to score a goal or enough to stop them so what an idiot I am for saying that.

“The two goals we gave them made the game really hard. It’s easy when you give the game away to go and chase, but we have to be that at 0-0. The two goals that we give them are criminal.

“We made this place a really hard place for people to come and win and we’ve lost the fear factor because of how we’ve gone about the last couple of games.

“We haven’t had the quality when we’ve had the chances to go and hurt them. We’ve been too easy to create chances against.

“The overall picture is we haven’t been good enough. We’re a long way away from the level needed to do what we’re aspiring to as a club.”