Newport hope Cardiff win will kickstart season

Newport have won only one league game this season, at Crawley Town on 9 August

David Hughes believes Newport County's EFL Trophy triumph at Cardiff City can be a springboard for the Exiles as they look to climb the League Two table.

Newport prop up the EFL having taken only five points from 11 fourth-tier games in 2025-26.

But after Tom Davies' goal was enough to secure victory over the Bluebirds at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday, manager Hughes hopes his team may be about to turn their season around.

Newport return to league action with a trip to 20th-placed Accrington Stanley on Saturday (15:00 BST).

"We accept it's been a disappointing start and that's clear for all to see, but this was about giving the supporters and the players something to cheer about," Hughes said.

"The reality is it's one game and we need to deliver those performances in the coming month and beyond to ensure that we start climbing the table.

"But what this should do is give the players the belief if any of them didn't see that from the messages we've had around us - you're not far away."

Though he made changes for the Newport tie, Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy picked a team featuring a number of senior players including Calum Chambers, Ryan Wintle and Yousef Salech.

But the League One promotion hopefuls were humbled on their own patch by a Newport side who had lost 10 of their previous 11 games.

"The players, I've said it consistently, have been magnificent. Their mental strength, resilience, character and ability have been evident in most of our performances this year and we haven't got the result," Hughes added.

"What we need to need to try to do is ensure that we continue to develop and evolve the way we play, be really difficult to play against.

"Cardiff is a great night for our supporters, for everybody involved, but the crucial part in all of this is that Accrington on Saturday is quite clearly of significance for us and it's a different game. We have to make sure that we can deal with it."