NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn said Kevin Ellison’s last-gasp winner made a turbulent week worthwhile.

The Exiles kicked off their League Two campaign with a 1-0 triumph at Oldham Athletic thanks to veteran forward Ellison’s header after 88 minutes.

The 42-year-old glanced home a superb Ryan Haynes cross to snatch three points at Boundary Park, helping Flynn to a first win on opening day since taking the reins at Rodney Parade.

“It’s been a tough week,” said the manager. “Wayne Hatswell [assistant coach] had to bury his auntie, my dad had a suspected heart attack on Friday.

“We’ve had Matty Dolan and Courtney Baker-Richardson go down injured, we had nowhere to train on Wednesday. We have had a tough week, so that made it all worthwhile.”

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The Exiles kept a clean sheet despite losing Dolan to a calf injury in the first half, with the central defender waiting to learn the extent of the damage.

“We controlled the game, we didn’t really create enough but it’s always like that at the beginning of the season,” said Flynn.

“We have played a lot better than that and lost, so I am delighted with the three points.

“We are away for a few weeks and the main thing is that we got three points, I don’t care how it was done against a dangerous Oldham team.

“Keith Curle is quietly putting together a good squad, they were missing a few players today through Covid and I was glad of that because they were big players.

“Oldham will give a lot of teams a tough game. We didn’t create too many clear cut chances but we just thought Kev would get on the end of one of the crosses, which he did.”

County gave debuts to defenders Cameron Norman and James Clarke and forwards Jermaine Hylton and Timmy Abraham yet it was the summer signing in midfield from Bristol Rovers, brought in to fill the void left by Wales international Josh Sheehan, that earned Flynn’s special praise.

“Ed Upson controlled the game and was always on the ball. He is a slightly different player to Josh, he looks forward a lot more while Josh switches the play a little more,” said the manager.

“We’ve got to adapt because you are not going to be able to afford a Josh Sheehan, we were just very fortunate that he happened to play for us. He has gone on to bigger and better things at Bolton.”

County fielded Hylton and Lewis Collins up front and had Ellison, Abraham and Jordan Greenidge as attacking options on the bench. Club legend Padraig Amond was not involved.

“He wasn’t in the squad. I picked the squad that I thought would get us three points and that’s it,” said Flynn.