By Paul Jones
Robbie Willmott has seen it all at Newport County during his two spells at the club and believes whoever is named to take charge of the club this week will inherit a group that is gaining an understanding of each other and building towards a bright future.
The 31-year-old scored the opening goal in County’s 2-2 draw at Exeter City at the weekend and is hoping to help extend the club’s unbeaten league run to four games with a win over Carlisle United at Rodney Parade tonight (Tuesday).
Sporting director Darren Kelly said the search for a successor to Michael Flynn could be made this week and the game against struggling Carlisle, who are one off the bottom and recently sacked their manager, is set to be the last with Wayne Hatswell in charge.
He has delivered five out of a possible nine points during his stint as interim manager and would love to sign off in style with another three points. Willmott believes that is more than possible.
“We battered Scunthorpe, I don’t know how we didn’t beat Bradford and at Exeter, we went in front twice. It was a good point in the end, even though we should have seen it out,” said Willmott.
“It shows we are building something good and, if we win on Tuesday night, it will have been a very good week for a new manager to come in and take over.
“I’ve played under different managers and you just have to back the club and the board that they will make the right decision. We’ve got all the confidence that they will bring in somebody decent and they will be taking over a good side.”
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Willmott is in his second spell at County and joined when Justin Edinburgh was in charge in 2013.
He played alongside Flynn at Wembley when the club won the Conference play-off to return to the Football League and notched his 255th appearance for the club last weekend.
He played under Flynn when the club went to Wembley again in the League Two play-off final in 2019, when they were beaten in extra time by Tranmere, but was out on loan at Exeter last season when they returned and fell against Morecambe.
The Exiles will get the chance to avenge that controversial defeat after being drawn to face Morecambe in the first-round proper of the FA Cup on the weekend of 5-7 November.
That game will give the new manager a chance to build on the FA Cup triumphs of recent seasons and gain some instant revenge for last season’s painful Wembley defeat.
Before then, though, there is tonight’s clash and then a trip to Bristol Rovers on Saturday for Willmott and co to concentrate on.
Hatswell is likely to make some changes tonight after picking the same starting XI in the last three games
“We need to apply ourselves as we have done with the last two games at home. We’ve had the same starting XI for the last three games and I said to the staff before Exeter that a few might have a bit of a dip,” said Hatswell.
“You can see that coming, but you want to get through it and get them to five or six games so that they are feeling really match fit.
“Carlisle are coming to us in a similar sort of situation, although they sacked a manager, which is a little bit different. We’ve got to try and take advantage of that while they are regrouping.
“We’ve got to make sure that we start really well and put them on the back foot straight away.”