Shaquille Gwengwe's Impact on Newport County's EFL Journey

Hayden Mullins says Shaquille Gwengwe’s League Two player of the month nomination is more than a nice line on the CV. For Newport County’s manager, it is proof that a striker who was terrorising Southern League defences a few months ago has wasted no time proving he belongs in the EFL.

Gwengwe arrived from Poole Town with a fearsome record – 47 goals last season – but a big question mark over how that form would translate several tiers up. August offered a blunt answer. Four goals in five league games, a nomination for the division’s top individual award, and a new attacking focal point for the Exiles.

“Rightly deserved, with four goals in five games. He works incredibly hard,” Mullins said, underlining that this is no overnight sensation. The 25-year-old has embraced the grind as much as the goals.

Mullins has been struck not just by the numbers, but by the attitude behind them.

“He always wants to work on areas of his game which he feels might help him to develop,” the County boss explained. “He's not come into the group and sat back; he's come in, and he really wants to push.

"He's got a lot to learn, but he's really open and wants to improve. His product is the by-product of all his hard work."

That product has come from an unexpected area of the pitch. Gwengwe has been vocal about preferring to play through the middle, yet every one of his four August goals came from a wide role in Mullins’ system. The adaptation has been seamless enough that the manager now sees two clear pathways for his new forward.

“The good thing is he is open-minded. Wherever he can get into the team, he'll play and try and do a job,” Mullins said. “He could be equally effective through the middle, but maybe we have to change a few things to help that.

"He's jumped a lot of levels very quickly and with every game he's gaining more experience. Once he figures out the different challenges at this level, there's no reason why he couldn't play as the nine."

For now, the nomination sits as a marker of how far he has come in a short burst of games. Gwengwe’s name appeared on the League Two shortlist alongside Barnet’s Charlie Larkin, Crewe striker Josh March and York City’s Harry Boyes, who ultimately took the award.

Inside the Newport dressing room, the respect is already banked. Midfielder Ciaran Brennan has seen enough to label his new team-mate a genuine threat.

“Shaq definitely knows where the goal is, so when he's on the pitch there's always half a chance that he might sniff something out,” Brennan said.

From non-league hotshot to EFL game changer in a single summer – the numbers are impressive. The question now is how high Gwengwe can climb once he’s leading the line through the middle, not just hurting teams from the flank.