Andy Cook is praised by Mark Hughes after the Bantam treble in Newport
TALISMAN Andy Cook made a “massive impact” on his hat-trick return at Newport this afternoon.
Mark Hughes hailed the striker’s three-goal salvo in a 4-1 win that has lifted spirits after City’s sluggish start to the season.
Having missed four games through injury, Cook displayed the form that earned him League Two’s golden boot to break his duck in style.
Hughes was delighted to see City’s main man back to his scoring best.
“Andy is used to scoring week in, week out,” he said.
He wasn’t quite where he needed to be at the start of the season for whatever reason and wasn’t quite happy with his form.
“But today he enjoyed the opportunity and the amount of chances that were created for him and he created himself.
“He’s a confidence player and he was able to build his performance. I was as pleased with his general play as his goals.
“At this level, he’s very difficult to stop. We keep scratching our heads how he does it but he keeps on doing it.
“He’s got a big wide beaming smile at the moment and the ball underneath his shirt. We’ve missed him and he’s come back with a massive impact for us.”
City answered the recent criticism with their most convincing win and performance of the campaign – storming into a three-goal lead inside the first half hour. Rayhaan Tulloch, starting for the first time, also scored.
Hughes felt they were good value for the big victory.
The Bantams chief added: “Our general play was good and there was good intensity.
“The first goal is always vitally important and we were able to get that. Our confidence grew from that point onwards.
“We caught Newport on the back foot just by the quality of the play in the first half.
“We thought there would be a response second half and Newport had a go. They tried to ask questions with balls into the box and keeping us honest.
“They made sure we had to defend correctly and be vigilant and we were able to do that. We just had to stand up to the challenge and we did that quite comfortably.
“There were big performances from a lot of the guys today, not least Cookie obviously with the hat-trick.
“I thought Rayhaan Tulloch was excellent on the left-hand side, certainly in the first half where he caused them a real problem.
“Kev McDonald was really influential in the game and used his experience and quality to pick out people in good areas to release pressure.
“Overall I’m really pleased with the performance and obviously the result.”
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