Best is yet to come, Edinburgh insists

The Exiles are now 90 minutes from booking a first ever trip to Wembley, knowing that a win, draw, or one goal defeat will be enough to secure their passage to the final on Saturday in the return leg.

Goals from Elliott Buchanan, Nat Jarvis and Darryl Knights helped Newport to a welcome win in front of a decent crowd, but Edinburgh is hopeful the 675 travelling supporters on Saturday will have even more to shout about.

"I think we’d have settled for the result before the game but I have to reflect on a game of two halves really," he said.

"We got off to a fantastic start and looked like we would go on to see out the game and be comfortable but they came back well and it was nothing I didn’t expect from Wealdstone, they are a good team and have dispatched some good sides along the way to get this far.

"They certainly had a go second half and had us on the back foot for periods of the game. But we have a two-goal lead and we will certainly go there ahead in the tie but knowing we will have a tough game down there.

"It isn’t over and we will show our opponents the respect they deserve but I know we can be much better. We didn’t show anywhere near to our potential on Saturday and we’ll be looking to up our game next week and I think we will."

The Exiles have seen young guns like Jarvis, Jake Harris, Andrew Hughes and Elliott Buchanan shine in recent weeks, while Sam Foley has stolen plaudit after plaudit.

However, it was the older guard who impressed their manager on Saturday.

"Glyn Thompson made a good save and we go down the other end and break and get a good goal from Darryl Knights and hopefully that gives us the cushion and keeps us ahead in the tie with the momentum," he said.

"Gary Warren and David Pipe were immense for us, we know the level of consistency we expect from the senior players and rightly so.

"Gary is a proper player, a proper captain who all the players respect immensely and I think we are starting to see the full benefits of David Pipe now he’s getting full match fitness. He’s been immense the past couple of weeks and drives us on and gives us that impetus, it was his cross that provided the third goal."

Edinburgh had previously banned talk of Wembley but there won’t be any such restrictions in training this week.

"We have to embrace the pressure, not be frightened and the boys can be proud of the spirit they showed even though the ball retention wasn’t as good as it could be," he said.

"There is no point banning Wembley talk now, the players know what is at the end of this tie. Getting to Wembley would be immense, to lead a team out there, but we’ve got to get through the second leg."

Edinburgh was thrilled to see his side finally showing a killer touch, scoring three goals from no more than half a dozen chances.

"The boys showed a clinical touch today, we haven’t been ruthless since I’ve been here but today when chances came along the boys dispatched them superbly," he said.

Edinburgh also revealed that he was hopeful that both Ismail Yakubu and Elliott Buchanan would be fit for the return leg this weekend after both were withdrawn through injury.