Critics motivated us, says County boss Justin Edinburgh (From South Wales Argus)

Critics motivated us, says County boss Justin Edinburgh

7:00am Thursday 14th February 2013 in Latest Football By Michael Pearlman

MANAGER Justin Edinburgh feels critics of the club made his job easy on Tuesday night and inspired his team to their splendid win over Mansfield.

Edinburgh’s decision to switch to a 5-3-2 system paid handsome dividends with County the better side throughout against one of the in-form teams in the entire country who had racked up four straight wins, scoring 18 goals in the process.

However, Newport clipped the Stags’ antlers after their much publicised eight goal success last weekend.

The Exiles’ form has been far patchier and Edinburgh believes that created a doom and gloom mentality that he’s taken advantage of as County got their promotion prospects back on track. He explained: “Without a doubt it made my job much easier as a manager, all the negativity around the place.

“A lot of people looking from the outside thought we’d get well beaten by Mansfield but we thoroughly deserved to beat them.

“For whatever reason a lot of people think we’re going to fall away and we’re going to drift away in the night.

“There is no doubt about that and I think that includes one or two of our own supporters as well.

“But I know this group, I work with them day in and day out and since the first day we arrived back for pre-season they’ve been first rate and I believe they’ll stand the test of time.

“It was a big, big result for us, a statement.”

Edinburgh was very happy to keep a first clean sheet in four months and felt the switch from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2 was instrumental in an improved defensive display.

“I’m delighted with how it worked, a lot has been said about the defence but they aren’t bad overnight. We’ve ridden out a rough patch and now we need to be consistent.

“I always knew I had wing backs in the team, I have belief in our shape and the way we play but somewhere along the line we needed to try something different.

“We’ve got three accomplished central defenders, we try to play free-flowing football but it isn’t suited to the pitch at the moment, this way suited us a little bit better.”

Edinburgh was pleased with the manner of victory and feels it bodes well for Saturday’s trip to Woking.

“They had a spell after half time but other than that we were excellent and thoroughly deserved our win.

“All games ahead are important and we’ve shown a strong mentality. I believe we’re going to stay the course and mount a challenge. We’ve been in the top three or four all season, we are a good side.”