JOINT boss Rob Scott is confident that his Grimsby Town side can turn around their play-off semi-final with Newport after the Exiles claimed a narrow 1-0 win at Blundell Park last night.
After a second half in which the Mariners had been largely dominant, Ismail Yakubu scored a deflected header, two minutes from time, to hand Justin Edinburgh's side a slender advantage going into Sunday's second leg at Rodney Parade.
In Pictures: Grimsby Town 0 Newport County 1
Scott admitted that frustration was the 'overriding emotion' at the final whistle, but insisted he has faith that his side can go to Wales at the weekend and win.
"We said before the game that it was going to be a tense affair at 100 miles per hour and so it proved," he said.
"We didn't start great and we were off the pace first half, but we said at half-time that they needed to step it up.
"We changed the formation and it was better, and we started to take the ascendency in the second half. We pushed their two wing-backs right back and their three in midfield were very, very deep.
"We hit the post, and we had a couple of chances in the box where the ball didn't drop where we needed it to drop, and we got caught with a sucker punch at the end.
"We needed to be big and strong enough to defend the set-piece and we weren't. It's frustrating that, in the dying embers of the game, they get a chance at the far post. So frustration is the overriding emotion."
He added: "It is half-time and there is another 90 minutes to go. We're in at half-time 1-0 down, but we know we've got the capabilities to go away from home and win on Sunday."
