Coughlan 'proud as punch' of Newport after claiming Dons point

Graham Coughlan said he was proud as punch of his players after they held on for a point against MK Dons on Saturday.

Despite only having a third of possession and the visitors having five gilt-edged chances at Rodney Parade, the game finished goal-less, earning the under-strength Exiles a valuable point.

Coughlan is thin on the ground in his squad, only able to name five substitutes and two of those were teenagers with no senior appearances.

And after being put through their paces, especially in the latter stages of the game, the manager was delighted with his side for claiming a share of the spoils.

“I’m proud as punch of the players today, they gave us everything," Coughlan said. 

“Given our current predicament with injuries and our squad, I’ve got to be satisfied with the result and performance. 

"We’ve gone up against one of the top sides in this division today with a top group of players, and we’ve gone up against them and did enough to win the game in the end I thought.  "We’ve created numerous opportunities but we’ve failed to score a goal. It happens, it’s not a quick fix, but it can happen sometimes in certain games. 

“I’m not going to complain after getting a point from one of the top teams in this league. We try and seek perfection every day, and raise our standards every day in training to make ourselves better as a group of players."