NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn accepted his part of the blame for Tuesday’s 5-0 thumping at Mansfield Town.

The Exiles boss admitted that he may have picked the wrong team after watching his side comprehensively outplayed at the One Call Stadium.

And he apologised to the 57 travelling fans who witnessed a performance that was unrecognisable from the determined display in last week’s narrow 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.

“Six nights ago I was probably the proudest manager in the country and I’m ashamed tonight,” said Flynn after the final whistle.

“Maybe the team selection [was wrong] and if I could go back maybe I’d do something a bit different but when you concede the type of goals we did it’s [difficult to win any match].

“It’s the first time, and it will be the last time, that the players have let themselves down professionally this season.”

Flynn refused to single out any individual players for criticism in public.

“It’s definitely the worst performance of the season but we’re in it together and they’ve given me everything [this season],” he said.

“It’s almost coming up to a year [in charge] and the boys that were here first and the new players have given me everything.

“We’ve just got to get back to basics now and we’ve got to be tough to beat because that wasn’t a Newport performance.”

South Wales Argus:

County were 2-0 down after nine minutes in Nottinghamshire before captain Joss Labadie had a goal ruled out for offside.

“After the first 10 or 15 minutes it was going to be an uphill struggle,” added the manager.

“I’m not making any excuses but we’ve watched our goal and Joss wasn’t offside.

“Goals change games and that would have been 2-1 but we were poor as a whole group.

“We win and lose as a group and we’re all very disappointed.

“I feel sorry for the fans who travelled up.

“None of us want to be tarred with that brush and we’ve all got to put a reaction in on the weekend and get a positive performance.”

Frank Nouble and Matty Dolan were withdrawn at half-time, while Scot Bennett was forced off with a hamstring injury in the second half and Flynn says there will be changes for Saturday’s home clash with Notts County.

“There’s definitely going to be one change because Benno is injured but we’ll have to have a look at it,” he said.

“I’m not going to make any rash decisions now. We’ll have a look at it.

“The boys had a rest at the weekend. We all had a rest mentally.

“I might have gone with a different team on Saturday and I kind of wish I’d stuck with my hunch so none of us are blameless [including me].

“We’ve got a game to prepare for on Saturday now and we’ve got to put it right at the first opportunity.”