Graham Coughlan felt his Newport side could easily have been leading by “five or six goals” at half-time of their 4-0 win against Doncaster.
County raced out of the blocks and effectively put the game to bed inside 21 minutes with three unanswered goals.
Seb Palmer-Houlden got the opener in the sixth minute when he outmuscled Joseph Olowu and fired past goalkeeper Ian Lawlor.
Will Evans doubled the Exiles’ advantage in the 14th minute when he slotted in the rebound after Lawlor had denied right-back Shane Mcloughlin.
The third arrived seven minutes later when Doncaster failed to clear a corner and, in the resulting scramble, an attempted clearance cannoned off Rovers captain Richard Wood and inside Lawlor’s post.
Coughlan’s men could have had more before the break, but Evans made certain of the three points with his second and Newport’s fourth just four minutes into the second half.
It capped an impressive week for the Exiles, who lost 3-0 at Accrington on the opening day but beat League One Charlton in the Carabao Cup in midweek.
“It was pleasing, a really good all-round performance,” said Coughlan. “The game fizzled out in the second half after the fourth goal, but we could have scored five or six goals in the first half.
“Let’s put it in our back pocket and build on it. That is what we are about, and if we come off it and don’t play with those intense levels we tend to struggle.
“What was really pleasing was that there was a lot of combination play in midfield and the first goal came from us defending a corner. Nick Townsend caught it and we broke out like the Red Arrows.
“To see work transfer from the training ground to the pitch was really pleasing; it was a good, solid home performance.”
It was a second league defeat of the new season for Doncaster, who have now won just one of their last 13 matches in League Two, losing 10.
Grant McCann, who returned to the Rovers hotseat in May, admitted his side were outplayed.
“It’s a very disappointing performance,” he said. “It was a catalogue of errors and we just weren’t good enough. They were better than us.
“The first two goals were mistakes and the third was a comedy of errors – a sliced clearance hitting Richard Wood’s calf and ending up in the back of our net. It was an uphill task from there.
“Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. And that’s including the travel (on Friday) when the bus broke down!
“Everything went against us, but I’m not one for making excuses – that was totally unacceptable from us.”
Dortmund got 'fully deserved victory' over Freiburg, says Sahin
Nuri Sahin praised Borussia Dortmund for getting "a fully deserved victory" over nine-man Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Dortmund remained perfect on home soil this season as they cruised to a 4-0 win at Signal Iduna Park after Patrick Osterhage and Junior Adamu were both sent off for the visitors.
Maximilian Bieier and Felix Nmecha scored in the first half before Julian Brandt and Jamie Gittens secured the points in the second during a dominant display as they limited Freiburg to just three shots on target at the other end.
Dortmund have now won 11 home games in a row in all competitions. Since the Bundesliga was founded, they have won more consecutive home matches in a row only once, winning 14 in a row at home in 1994.
Sahin has come under pressure recently for the Black and Yellow's less impressive away form, but he was delighted with the showing he saw from his side.
"We started very well. We controlled the spaces. We allowed very little," Sahin said.
"Overall, it was a mature performance from my boys. We scored great goals, showed good energy.
"We kept them away from our goal throughout. It was a fully deserved victory and I, as a coach, am very satisfied."
Dortmund were, however, without Serhou Guirassy, who is their top scorer in the Bundesliga with six goals, as he pulled out of the game due to a virus.
Next up for Sahin's side is a trip to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, and the head coach is hopeful he will be available for that tie.
"[Saturday] morning again, we got the bad news. Serhou tried everything to play today, but it did not work," Sahin added.
"I hope it will be enough for Zagreb. He is a very important player for us."
Rodgers enjoying 'exciting period' as Celtic open gap at top of Scottish Premiership
Brendan Rodgers says it is an "exciting period" for Celtic as they moved three points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a 4-1 win over Hearts.
Celtic made a sluggish start to the match and were lucky not to find themselves behind at the break as Blair Spittal and Lawrence Shankland spurned glorious chances for Hearts.
However, they came out revitalised in the second half as Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn scored twice in five minutes to put them 2-0 up on the hour mark.
Adam Idah scored twice, netting on either side of Musa Drammeh's consolation, with his second coming from the penalty spot in the 94th minute.
Celtic have now won all seven of their away league games this season by an aggregate score of 22-2.
After Aberdeen's first loss of the season earlier on Saturday, Celtic gave themselves some breathing space at the top of the league, while also moving 11 points clear of rivals Rangers, who sit third.
Rodgers was delighted with Celtic's response to the first half, praising the players' adaptation.
"I'm really pleased. Tynecastle is a really tough place so to win 4-1 was really pleasing," Rodgers said.
"Second half, we figured out their press. They have normally been pressing in 4-4-2 but changed it slightly. It just meant we had to drop a man in our build-up play.
"We had some good moments in the first half, but once we were able to play through that pressure, I thought in the second half we were excellent.
"It's a very exciting period for us. All the players know they will play, they just need to be ready."
Celta Vigo 2-2 Barcelona: Stunning late show denies 10-man Blaugrana
Celta Vigo scored two goals in two minutes late on to earn an entertaining 2-2 draw with Barcelona in LaLiga at the Estadio Abanca-Balaidos.
League leaders Barca appeared to be cruising towards victory when they opened up a two-goal lead thanks to captain Raphinha and leading goalscorer Robert Lewandowski.
Raphinha cut inside before tucking home for the opener 15 minutes in, then Lewandowski got his 15th league goal of the season with a simple finish in the 61st minute.
However, the script changed when Blaugrana midfielder Marc Casado was sent off after receiving his second yellow card in the 82nd minute.
With Barca down to 10 men, the home side piled on the pressure and it told in the 84th minute, substitute Alfonso Gonzalez converting following an error from Jules Kounde.
The comeback was complete two minutes later, with Hugo Alvarez drilling past Inaki Pena to deny Flick's visitors victory.
Despite the result, Barca top LaLiga with 34 points, five ahead of Atletico Madrid in second and seven ahead of third-placed Real Madrid, who have two games in hand.
Data Debrief: Blaugrana finally held
Going into Saturday's game, Barcelona had gone 24 matches without a draw in LaLiga, winning 20 and losing four.
When they entered the final six minutes with a two-goal advantage, it appeared certain they would match their longest streak without a draw in the competition's history, recorded between February and October 2017 (25 games, 23 wins and two draws).
However, Hansi Flick's side were stunned at the death as they dropped points for a second game in succession following a 1-0 loss at Real Sociedad prior to the international break.
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