OMAR Bogle was hailed as one of the best strikers in League Two by Newport County AFC manager Graham Coughlan after scoring the winner at Gillingham.
The Exiles took the spoils at Priestfield – only the second side to do so in the league in 2023 – thanks to the striker’s powerful finish 12 minutes from time.
Cameron Norman headed them into the lead in the ninth minute before Tom Nichols won and scored a penalty to make it 1-1 at the break.
However, County had the better of the second half and got their reward when Norman challenged for Aaron Lewis’ free-kick and Bogle slammed in.
It was a 17th goal of the campaign for the striker and he is fifth in the League Two charts on 15.
Only Dom Telford and Padraig Amond can better his tally for a season since County returned to the Football League.
“Thank God we have him,” Coughlan said. “He really leads the line well and he’s been different class since I came through the door.
“I think he’s right up there with the best strikers in the league – not only as a target man, but he’s also a brilliant person to have in the dressing room.”
County are 14th in the table and could finish as high as 10th if they beat Crewe on Bank Holiday Monday and other results go their way.
It has been a draining month in which the Exiles have followed wins with losses then got back on the horse. Coughlan hopes the break until the finale will help them end that sequence.
“We should enjoy today, as football doesn’t give you too much time to do that. You’re always thinking about the next training session, game and opponent,” he said.
“I’ll give the lads a couple of days off now as April has been really tough for us. We’ve played nearly seven or eight games in 29 days, yet we delivered a really strong performance.
“I thought our tactics were spot on – we knew their strengths, we knew we had to nullify them, and it took a really big job to do that.”
Gillingham’s 19th defeat of the season leaves them in 18th and manager Neil Harris did not sugarcoat his thoughts after a disappointing performance.
“Look, the lads have been brilliant in the second half of the season, but it was a flat performance,” he said.
“I thought we were slightly the better team in the first half, their chances really only came through set-pieces. In the second half I made a sub and we got worse.
“We didn’t react to that change. I learned loads about the group today, but that’s as far as I’ll go about not being happy.
“It’s been a long season for everybody, and it felt like we let out a sigh of relief today, delivering a sub-par display."
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