Lucas Ness earns plaudits after heading Notts County to victory over Newport

Notts County head coach Martin Paterson praised Lucas Ness after his defender’s first two career goals helped his side to a 3-1 victory over Newport that restored them to the Sky Bet League Two promotion places.

Ness’ first-half headers from Matt Palmer and Keanan Bennetts corners set up the three points for Notts before the relegation-threatened Exiles rallied in the second half.

Harrison Biggins’ backheel pulled one back for the Welsh side before substitute Jayden Luker cut in to score the clinching third four minutes from the end.

Paterson said: “Set-plays are really important and Lucas should score more.

“We are getting him more aggressive, he’s done brilliantly since he came in. Nessy has improved every single day and that’s key.

“The dressing room is happy with the win but no one is getting carried away. We just need to keep replicating the hard work and improve on certain things.

“My biggest thing is not worrying about that line, it’s worrying about tomorrow morning when I work with the players.

“You have to respect this game. It was not a gimme, it was tough. Newport played well in moments and I was really pleased we had too much for them.”

This victory was all the more impressive for Notts County as they were without 16-goal top scorer Alassana Jatta, missing due to a retrospective three-game ban for violent conduct in Friday’s defeat at Salford.

Paterson said: “There’s always complaints when your top scorer gets suspended.

“There’s always emotion but sometimes you have to respect authorities.

“The lads responded ever so well. I’d rather bottle up the positivity from a great home win.”

Newport showed some character in the second half but remain one point above the drop zone and now have a pivotal home game against Harrogate on Saturday.

Exiles manager Christian Fuchs said: “We need to make some better decisions. But we cannot go back, we can only go forward. We need to learn from our mistakes and stop them.

“The boys know about the other results and know it is still in their own hands.

“The spirit in the second half showed what they are capable of doing, that’s what they need to continue.

“We need as many fresh legs on the pitch as possible. Everyone who played left it all out there in the second half, they gave everything for Newport.

“I’m not following the other games during our match but second half we did really well.

“Out of the game Notts County did not create a lot, they had a lot of possession and maybe a shot in the first half, but they did not create too much on target.

“I think we definitely looked a threat in the second half.”