NEWPORT County defender Darren Jones admits he scored the best goal of his long career on Saturday, a moment all the sweeter because it came for the Amber Army.

The 31-year old made his 357th career appearance in the top five divisions against the Minstermen and delighted the Rodney Parade faithful with a stunning goal to seal a 3-1 win.

Jones is currently the lynchpin of the County defence and is playing the central role of a back three, often with a teenager or two either side of him.

However, he admits he’s never enjoyed his football as much as he is playing in League Two with his boyhood team.

“I’d always rather a clean sheet than a goal but I suppose in this instance I will take the goal as it wasn’t bad was it,” he said after scoring a 25-yard thunderbolt.

“I’ve played a lot of games now, I know this level inside and out and because I’m the oldest one I’m in the middle of the back three, often without much experience either side of me.

“But I enjoy it, if I can help anyone develop and helping the lads out, I couldn’t be happier with that role in the team as a senior player.

“The whole thing, winning, losing, it means more to me because it is with Newport County. This is my home town. I was born here. I live here. You tend to want it more.

“As a professional, at every club I’ve been at I’ve given 100% in every game, but being here, it does mean more to me. When we win, when we lose, whatever, I feel it more.”

Jones admits his wonder strike was the best of his 16 career goals.

“It was a great moment for me, but I am much happier with getting the win, that’s always the more important thing, we need to maintain our winning streak at home, because we haven’t lost since the opening day and we haven’t looked likely to.

“That is certainly the best goal I’ve ever scored in my career, I knew straight away, it sat up nice and I cut across it and even before it went in off the bar I was celebrating because it was that kind of contact where I knew it’d be a goal.

“The goals I’ve scored this year have come as a surprise to me, in recent years I’ve struggled for goals and now I’ve got two and they were both good goals.”

Jones feels the Exiles are heading in the right way and praised manager Justin Edinburgh for his half time team talk, County 1-0 behind to York at the break.

“I think on the whole the signs are really encouraging for us this season, I feel we are heading in a positive direction,” he said.

“I know it’s the kind of division where anyone can beat anyone, but I don’t think we’ve had a bad performance since the first game of the season.

“The only real bad performance was the first game of the season, we’ve got better and better and lost one in nine now and on Saturday we had four key players out.

“The gaffer had strong words with us at half time and though the red card will be York’s excuse, we were going to beat them in that second half. We were so fired up.”