Football Season Review

It was another season of play-off heartbreak for Newport County, who suffered a second defeat in three years in the final at Wembley. Manager Michael Flynn has worked wonders at Rodney Parade and it was another season when he overcame a whole host of obstacles to return to Wembley. He adopted a change in playing philosophy with more passing football and it paid off as they spent 12 weeks at the top of League Two. Two key components were centre-back Brandon Cooper and midfielder Scott Twine, but both were recalled by their parent clubs in January. Flynn was always going to struggle to replace them with players of similar quality and the side soon fell out of promotion contention. The notorious Rodney Parade playing surface saw two games moved to the Cardiff City Stadium in March and they did just enough to scrape into the play-off places on the final day of the season. They somehow came through a remarkable second leg of their semi-final at Forest Green Rovers but were undone by two dreadful refereeing decisions in the final. Matty Dolan’s switch to a ball-playing centre back was a masterstroke whilst playmaker Josh Sheehan’s outstanding season saw him make his international debut for Wales. He has plenty of suitors whilst holding on to the likes of Liam Shephard, Priestley Farquharson and Ryan Haynes might also be tricky. With almost the entire out of contract this summer, Flynn might feel this is the right time to move on for pastures new too.

Player of the Season: Josh Sheehan