NEWPORT County AFC manager Warren Feeney admitted his team lacked quality at both ends of the pitch as they suffered a sixth straight defeat on Saturday.

Alex Rodman pulled a goal back late on but first half goals from Jake Mulraney and former County striker Aaron O’Connor gave Stevenage victory.

It’s the worst run of league defeats since 2005 for the Exiles, who are now 22nd in League Two, but they ate still 11 points clear of the relegation zone ahead of Tuesday night’s home clash with promotion-chasing Oxford United.

“I’m gutted,” said Feeney. “I’m a passionate person and I don’t want to keep losing.

“I don’t want to be saying the same things to the players every week.

“You’re going into games at the moment and you don’t know what they’re going to give you. That’s the sad thing.

“I thought in the second half we had a right go but the quality in the box at times [was poor]. You’ve got to be more astute.

“We gave the fans something to cheer about in the second half but it’s easy when you’re 2-0 down.”

Explaining his decision to replace left-back Ben Davies after just 38 minutes, the Exiles boss said: “It was tactical because I thought he was poor and I told him that.

“I’m not one who’s going to lie. I’ll always be honest with them but I thought he was very poor and he wasn’t the only one.

“I don’t think he was getting much support from midfield but you can’t get beat on one-on-ones and I thought Ben was getting beat too easily.

“You’ve got to get tight and if he’s got a trick I’d do it the old-school way and lay one on him early doors, if I’m being honest.

“I don’t think you get enough of that now.

“If he beats you once he doesn’t beat you again but unfortunately he wasn’t getting tight enough and I brought him off for that reason.”

He added: “Tommy [O’Sullivan] came off tactically too but I don’t think it was Tommy’s fault – I just had to look around and change it.

“It’s easy second half being 2-0 down but it wasn’t good enough. We didn’t show enough quality.”