STAND-IN captain David Pipe admits the League Two play-offs are now out of reach for Newport County AFC but he will not allow any players to down tools before the end of the season.

Pipe wore the armband in the absence of Joss Labadie and Mark O’Brien on Saturday as County went down to a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Stevenage.

The result saw the Exiles drop to 13th in the table – 11 points below the top seven with only six games left to play.

But Pipe says he will ensure that everyone in the squad gives their all between now and the final match of the campaign at Carlisle United on May 5. “The play-offs is probably unrealistic now but that doesn’t mean you go into those games not trying to win,” said the 34-year-old right-back.

“I don’t like losing a five-a-side game, let alone on a match-day so you definitely won’t get anything different out of me and I’ll make sure that the rest of the boys are on it as well.

“It’s about motivation. No matter what your situation is, whether you’re looking to go on elsewhere or continue here it comes back to personal pride.

“I don’t care what someone uses to get them going, as long as they use it.

“You’ve got to have that personal pride,” he added. “You should be down, it should affect you [when you lose]. If it doesn’t then you shouldn’t be here.

“It affects me and I know it affects a lot of the boys.”

Pipe believes County have to be honest about where they have gone wrong in recent weeks in order to put things right against Swindon Town next weekend.

Michael Flynn’s men have just one win in their last 12 league games – a 2-0 success at Yeovil Town on March 10.

In the four home games since then they have followed up positive performances in 1-1 draws with promotion-chasing Luton Town and Coventry City with dismal displays in defeats against struggling Crewe Alexandra and Stevenage.

Pipe finds that inconsistency hard to explain.

“I wish I could give you the magic answer,” he said. “I’m sure everyone will have a different opinion on what it’s down to.

“We’ll try to rectify that this week because we don’t want it to fester and I know with the players and staff that we’ve got that definitely won’t happen.

“We’ll discuss how we put it right and look for the three points next week.

“People say we’ve had a bad period but for me I just want to rectify this loss.

“You can look into the past or into the future but as a professional if you look too far either way it’s going to affect you both on and off the pitch. “Whoever gets called upon next week needs to step up and turn around what’s happened and turn it into a positive.”