RICHIE Wellens heaped praise on strikers Kaiyne Woolery and Elijah Adebayo following Swindon Town’s battling 2-1 win at home to Newport County in League Two this afternoon.

Woolery marked his first start of an injury-ravaged campaign with the winning goal in the closing stages at the Energy Check County Ground, while Adebayo produced one of his best performances of the season upon his own return to the starting line-up.

Woolery’s winner came eight minutes from time after Padraig Amond’s header for Newport early in the second half had cancelled out Michael Doughty’s first-minute opener for the hosts.

Town boss Wellens was thrilled with the threat offered by Woolery and Adebayo in attack and felt their performances against County bode well for the future.

“Kaiyne was outstanding – I thought him and Elijah were really good,” said Wellens.

“That is the best Elijah I have seen and with Kaiyne – we know the club obviously spent a lot of money on him and then he has had a little bit of a frustrating time – but with the way we play and the way we pass, we know his speed opens the game up for us.

“If we do pass it well and we get people like Michael Doughty on the half-turn and running forward, we have got that speed on the side, which we haven’t had.

“Kaiyne is going to be a real asset for this club. We need to keep him fit now, but that is a starting point for him.”

A strong wind had a big say on proceedings at SN1 as the side with it behind them held sway in their respective half.

Town enjoyed the benefit of that in the first period and Wellens was concerned that they only had Doughty’s early opener to show for their efforts, but he felt the quality the hosts were able to show on the counter after the break meant they were worthy of Woolery’s late winner.

“We came in at half-time and were disappointed we were not 3-0 up – we let them off the hook,” said Wellens.

“Michael (Flynn, Newport manager) made a couple of subs because he was not happy with them, so we knew he was going to get them in at half-time and give them a rollicking and we knew there was going to be a reaction.

“We spoke about keeping a high line because we have got a good goalkeeper who is good off his line, so the through balls will just carry through.

“It is a real sucker-punch when you come out after two minutes and it is 1-1.

“We had 43 minutes which were going to be difficult against the wind, but I thought we were always a threat on the counter-attack, and when we did get it down and get a few passes together – which is difficult in those conditions – I thought we showed quality.”