Newport County end their first season since promotion in optimistic mood as they gave a really good account for themselves and showed that they can play mesmerising football at the top level of non-league football. Dean Holdsworth had a team bursting with confidence at the start of the campaign after they won promotion in superb style the season before. After a few weeks of fine-tuning and finding their best side, the Exiles really go going in September and went on a superb 11-game unbeaten run that culminated with a 3:2 win away at Crawley at the end of October. Newport were playing superb football on the ground, showing invention and real desire to impress against the top boys, quickly finding their feet at the new level. They had a minor blip in November but quickly recovered and definitely looked play-off material by the end of the year with a 3:2 win away at Kidderminster putting them second in the table. However, the first three months of the new year put paid to any hopes of second successive promotion as the club was sent into turmoil once Holdsworth accepted the challenge of leading Aldershot in League Two. Tim Harris took charge of the team from then on but the players were really low on confidence and it got worse after top scorer Craig Reid departed the club at the end of January. Suddenly the Welsh outfit was in real freefall and their winless run was extended to 13 games in the league. It was only ended in March when Altrincham were beaten 2:1 at home. Suddenly the players recovered their confidence and started playing some superb football once again. At the same time, a new permanent manager was appointed as young Anthony Hudson was given the chance to get to know the team in the final weeks of the season with the pressure gone. He definitely showed that he can make the step up as he won four of the six games in charge, culminating with a 7:1 win away at Gateshead on the final day of the season. Some of the football shown in these last few weeks was just superb and the fans will hope that stability and consistency will make Newport County genuine promotion contenders next season.
