NEWPORT County AFC manager Justin Edinburgh insisted that rumours linking him with the Gillingham job did not affect his players after watching them go down to a 4-0 defeat at Cambridge United.

Star man Cameron McGeehan, making his debut on loan from Norwich City, ran the show for the hosts and helped himself to a goal in each half.

Fellow loan signing Sullay Kaikai smashed in the second just before the break after McGeehan’s 12th-minute opener and Liam Hughes completed the rout 11 minutes from time.

"It’s only you guys who were talking about it," he said of the Gillingham link. "We haven’t spoken about it. We had a normal week coming off the back of a very good victory last week against Portsmouth.

"We know that if we aren’t at our best then, regardless of speculation, we will struggle.

"Only one or two did themselves justice today.

"I’ve had no contact from Gillingham and my sole focus is on Newport County."

The result saw County drop from third in League Two to fifth ahead of next week's trip to Northampton Town.

"I don’t like to describe it as a bad day at the office," added the Exiles boss. "I think that is a bit of an easy cop-out.

"We had too many people that performed under-par. You may be able to carry one or two but when you only get one or two who perform to their capabilities then it’s always going to be an uphill battle and it was certainly that today.

"I certainly didn’t see this performance coming but in football you never know what’s around the corner.

"If you don’t have the right application on a game then that’s what can happen.

"Credit to Cambridge – they were very good and they didn’t allow us the room to play.

"They pressed us hard and we just weren’t able to get going.

"And after a slow start and going 2-0 behind it was always going to be an uphill task.

"I always say that if you don’t start games well you can’t always decide when you’re going to get back into them and today we couldn’t."