NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn suffered another frustrating afternoon as his side went down 1-0 at Exeter City.
The defeat is County’s sixth in the last seven games in League Two and it completed a miserable Christmas for Flynn’s men, who are down to 14th in the table.
Lee Martin scored the only goal of the game in the 14th minute and the Exiles couldn’t find a way back into the match at a wet and windy St James Park.
“It was frustrating,” said Flynn, who was highly critical of his players after the 2-1 defeat at Morecambe last Saturday.
“We competed and battled well and tried to keep going but, again, we got to the final third and we lacked confidence and quality.
“It was a lot more positive, in terms of the way they worked together and kept going as a team, than it was in the second half at Morecambe.
“Exeter ground out wins, they’re top-three for a reason. They had one chance, really, and they took it.
“And I’ve got no arguments about the result because we didn’t really create enough, although I thought Lewis did well when he came on.
“He was close to coming on at half-time but he was starting to feel his quads a bit during the warm-up.
“I’m not quite sure what that was from.”
Collins aside, County were again hit by injury and illness before the match.
“Tom King is ill, so that was another position taken out of our hands,” explained Flynn.
“It doesn’t rain, but it pours!
“And Mark O’Brien was out due to the concussion protocol, so he won’t be available until the Millwall game and neither will Kyle Howkins.
“We’ve got what we’ve got at the minute.”
Flynn made two changes at the interval with Tristan Abrahams and George Nurse replacing Padraig Amond and Taylor Maloney.
But the manager revealed afterwards that top scorer Amond was not injured and the switch was tactical.
“It wasn’t an injury,” he said. “I felt we needed a bit more pace up there.”
County, who are now without a win in eight league games, now host Leyton Orient on Sunday and Cheltenham Town on New Year’s Day.
Read more: Exeter City 1 Newport County 0 - match report from St James Park
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel