Simon Weaver hailed “horrible” forward Aaron Martin as his first goal in 14 outings in all competitions secured Harrogate’s second home League Two win of the season.

After Jake Scrimshaw’s 17th-minute goal for visitors Newport, Martin flicked on a free-kick from goalkeeper James Belshaw to tee up Josh March for an equaliser before the break.

He then used his head again to meet a George Thomson corner to clinch a 2-1 triumph midway through the second half, before County winger Liam Shephard was sent off for a lunging tackle on Simon Power.

On Martin’s match-winning contribution, Weaver said: “It was a vital performance from him. He’s horrible to play against and he brings that for us.

“He can be undermined for being a battering ram but he always pops up in the right areas and scoring will be great for his confidence.”

Weaver also felt his team’s efforts received an overdue reward, given their recent standard of performance.

He added: “I thought we were on it and there was a lot of energy on show. We deserved the three points and had to work really hard for them against a top team at this level.

“I was disappointed to concede from a set-play but it shows character to come back the way we did and we did not just show battling qualities.

“It was a really good performance and we are entitled to feel proud not just of our 100 per cent effort, but of a lot of skill as well.

“There’s a real freshness about the group now and we have deserved more points from our last four games, so I am pleased to have won a game after playing well again.”

Newport have now gone eight league games without a win and manager Michael Flynn was left unimpressed by the errors that he feels are now costing his team on a regular basis.

“We started quite well, but then the mistakes started creeping in and we got punished,” he said.

“I’m not going to single out individuals but one or two are consistently involved in the mistakes we are making and they have been told that has to stop.

“Then, after their goals, we were very poor and they did the horrible side of the game better than we did. We didn’t create anything else of note until the 89th minute.

“I thought we got bullied and did not match their aggression or deal with their physical threat, which is not what you want to see from the sideline.

“I have got a couple of days left in the transfer window to bring people in and I hope that can happen, but it’s been the worst window in my time as a manager in terms of missing out on people that I thought we were getting in.”