A very important & crucial win for Notts & with other results at the top of the league going for them, Notts find themselves in third place tonight.

Some good performances today especially in the first half.

I have chosen the first eleven players plus one substitute for you to choose from . Those players are :-

Belshaw, Macari, Ness, Bedeau, Kouhyar, Palmer, Norburn, Bennetts, Grant, Iorpenda, Ndlovu, Luker,

An energetic and combative first half, followed by a slightly disjointed and far less fluent second. Through it all Ndlovu kept trying and his control was a dramatic improvement on Jatta. Norburn was gritty and determined & Ness was solid & alert plus he scored 2 great headers.

In patches, Grant, Kouhyar, Iorpenda & Bennetts were impressive. Palmer faded in the 2nd half and neither Macari or Bedeau were at their best tho’ both had three moments too. Belshaw made 2 great saves and looked comfortable.

The cameo from Luker showed how much we’ve missed him. Absolute quality on the ball, confident and he scored a screamer.

Others did well but Ness has to be MOTM. 2 terrific headers and did his defensive job, pretty much, without fault.

Yes, has to be Lucas Ness - what a day for him.

He's been doing really well since he got the job in the centre of defence.

Who else to mention? I thought Kouhyar had his best starting game for the club.

Macari, Iorpenda were good, as usual - two of our best, most consistent players.

Ndlovu was good and Luker gave us the impact sub performance we don't always get.

Ness decisively turned the game in our favour with his two goals and generally played well, although I think he switched off for Newport’s goal. Norburn and Iorpenda were their consistent selves too. Kouhyar was industrious and hard working, but didn’t have the beating of his man the same way as Bennetts did on the other side.

I thought Ndlovu was very good today held the ball up well and pressed and fought for everything. Belshaw made some important saves. For me though it has to be Lucas Ness. He has come into the side recently due to injuries to Platt and McDonald under a lot of pressure and done really well. For me he has been close to mom on a few occasions already, so today it’s a well deserved award!

It’s got to be Ness for his two goals and impressive defensive display. Other notable performances for me were Ndlovu who held the ball up really well and worked hard, Bennett’s was excellent and put some great crosses in, Belshaw made some very important saves, Norburn who worked hard in midfield and lastly Luker who’s superb goal settled our nerves.

A good all round team performance.

I had a list of three, Lucas Ness being up there along with Tom Iorpenda and Ollie Norburn.

Though there are more players who digged deep and put in a solid performance, it was great to see Jayden Luker back in the team and I think my thoughts of if we need him should be proven wrong which I am happy for. As if he played longer, I think he would be up there and within most fans consideration. The impact he made in the past, made me hope that somehow we can make a deal to sign him.

He's too good for League Two, and would be a useful addition if we were to gain promotion.

That said, Lucas Ness was outstanding and earned my vote, as he defended like a real leader and gave us much more than just a typical defender's solid performance with his goal contributions.

I think there were some good performances especially in the first half. I thought Ndlovu did well with his hold up play. Norburn demonstrated that despite his disciplinary record, Notts need him in the centre of midfield. Luker did very well when he came on & he has to start at Cambridge. Grant did another great job doing what Grant does.

But for his excellent all round performance, my Man of the Match is Lucas Ness. His goals were well taken & it is very encouraging to see that he is a danger to our opponents from set pieces into the box.

The poll has now closed. Thanks to all who voted. I'm pleased to announce that Lucas Ness has been voted the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match v Newport. Well done Lucas.