Newport head coach Nelson Jardim praised a whole “team of heroes” after Bobby Kamwa scored his second hat-trick of the season in a 3-1 League Two victory over Gillingham at Rodney Parade.
Jardim was highly critical of his team after Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Doncaster – which followed a 3-0 home loss to Cheltenham – and his players produced the perfect response to climb to 15th in the table.
Kamwa, who also claimed a treble against MK Dons in December, was the star as he netted three times in the opening 30 minutes to put the result beyond doubt. But Jardim was delighted with the all-round performance.
“Bobby had a good performance, but the whole squad and team were the heroes,” said the Portuguese. “The way that they fought together was brilliant, from the goalkeeper to the striker.
“They were at it and know that they can be anything when they have the right attitude.
“It was important to get back to winning ways, especially in the way that we did.
“We were very good in the first half with the right attitude and with the players at it and running hard.
“I mentioned at the weekend that we are fighting for our lives and for next season. The only way of doing that is finishing this season strongly and getting as many wins as we can.
“Let’s make sure everyone is still focused and knows that there are a lot of games to play; we need the right mentality moving forward, we need to make sure we bring what we did against Gillingham every game.”
Jimmy-Jay Morgan headed in from close range after 69 minutes for a consolation goal, but there was no way back for the visitors.
Boss John Coleman was disappointed that his side could not build on Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Morecambe, which ended their 13-match winless streak.
“I’d like to apologise to the travelling fans. It was naive defending from us in the first half,” said the Gills boss, whose side dropped to 19th to sit nine points above the relegation zone.
“I could see after three minutes that it was too wide open – it was like a basketball game.
“Maybe I went too gung-ho with my approach to the game, so I have to take responsibility for that.
“Ultimately, one man made the difference for them. Bobby Kamwa had his big moments and they resulted in goals.
“At 3-0 the game became very stop-start, because that’s what they wanted it to be and it was allowed to be.
“It was frustrating. We couldn’t get any rhythm. And the pitch was very firm – that was the reason I didn’t make any subs.”
