NEWPORT County AFC defender Mickey Demetriou admits the players owe the fans a decent performance after Saturday’s dismal display against Crewe Alexandra.

The 2-1 defeat means County have won only once in their last 10 league matches and they have not earned three points at Rodney Parade since January 19.

And Demetriou insists that the players will be desperate to put on a show for the supporters when promotion hopefuls Coventry City come to town on Friday (kick-off 3pm).

“It was a disappointing day,” said the centre-back, whose late headed goal could not prevent Crewe from earning a vital victory through goals from Harry McKirdy and Jordan Bowery.

“We not good enough – there were a lot of players, including myself, who weren’t at the races.

“We need a good week of training and we have to put it right on Friday – we owe it to all the staff, the fans and the board, we shouldn’t be losing games like that.”

Saturday’s crowd was swelled to 4,638 by a £5 ticket offer but the home fans went home disappointed and Demetriou says the players did not give a true account of themselves.

“The club has put an offer on, more people have come through the gate and hopefully they give us another chance next week against Coventry to prove we don’t play like that every week,” said the centre-back.

“That wasn’t us out there. The fans that come every week know that and hopefully they come back on Friday and we put in a performance against Coventry.

“We’ve shown how good we are throughout the season but we had an off day and we paid for it.

“It’s a rare off day,” he added. “We’ve played well at home, and we’ve played well for the last few games.

“That’s the disappointing thing but we have to work hard in training and get ready to go again.”

South Wales Argus:

Manager Michael Flynn suggested his side perform better when they are the underdogs and that will be the case against sixth-placed Coventry, who they beat 1-0 at the Ricoh Arena in August.

“You could say we struggle when we’re favourites but we never sit in the changing rooms thinking that,” said the 28-year-old.

“We can’t read too much into that because any team can beat any other in this league.

“We do play better when we’re underdogs and hopefully we can out a better performance in next week. We don’t normally lose two games in a row.”

County are now 10 points below the play-off places but Demetriou has not given up hope of a top-seven finish.

“A win would have been huge for us and that’s knocked us back,” he said.

“But we still have eight games left and last year we won five of those to stay up so hopefully we can do that again.”