Newport County had a turbulent season to say the lead but it still finished with survival and a first visit to Wembley. The Welsh club were hoping for a good campaign under the stewardship of young manager Anthony Hudson who impressed so much in the last half a dozen games of the previous season. However, nothing seemed to work for Hudson and his men at the start of the campaign as they conceded some late goals and he was constantly forced to chop and change his side from the off. In Danny Rose he had one of the most accomplished attacking midfielders in the division but his performances were just not enough and soon the pressure turned on him. Some shambolic performances in September, especially a 5:0 loss at Mansfield when the whole team looked utterly disinterested, along with the complete lack of luck and struggle to convert chances in a few other games eventually sealed the fate of Hudson who was sacked after winning just one of the first 12 games of the season. Former Rushden & Diamonds boss Justin Ediburgh was handed the reins but he soon found out how difficult the task ahead of him will be as he inherited a dysfunctional squad in which the players were really short on confidence. He started with a 3:0 loss at home to Southport and despite a shocking 4:1 victory away at Fleetwood in the next game, the consistency was never there in the new few weeks. Newport remain in or just above the drop zone having not gone more than two league games without losing all the way to February. Missed chances and self-pity were strangling the players and a four-game losing run around the turn of the year really turned the pressure on. However, Edinburgh got to work in the transfer marker and after selling prized asset Danny Rose to Fleetwood, he picked Romone Rose, Lee Minshull and Ryan Charles among others to boost the midfield and attacking department. Sam Foley really came into prominence in midfield after Rose departed while teenager Jake Harris gained the status of a super-sub after a few superb performances off the bench in January and February including in a 3:2 win at Gateshead when the Exiles were two goals down with a few minutes of the game left. The team played its best football of the season in February but the loss of loanee Adam Chapman disrupted their rhythm and they slipped to a five-game winless run in March that put them back in danger. However, the dream a Wembley final was kept alive in the FA Trophy in which the Exiles beat a number of lower-level sides to reach the final against York. First they needed to secure safety and indeed a solid run of one defeat in seven games got them out of jail at long last after a traumatic campaign. The hope was that Edinburgh's men will defy the odds against York in the final of the Trophy the Minstermen secured a 2:0 win and at the end Newport remained empty-handed but still with nice memories from their trip to the home of football. They will need to be a lot more consistent and solid next season in order to have a better campaign but at times this season they looked like a decent team and Edinburgh deserves credit for eventually turning their fortunes around.
