Manager Michael Flynn was brutally honest about his team after their 4-1 League Two defeat at Crawley Town, saying: “It could have been even more.”
County conceded the first goal after 59 seconds and had defender Fraser Franks sent off with eight minutes left, although they were already 4-1 down at that stage.
“If it wasn’t for Joe Day in the first-half it could have been five or six,” said Flynn.
“Joe was outstanding. He allowed us to get back into it in the second half when we were the better team for a spell, but the penalty obviously changed things. It’s frustrating.”
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Crawley were the better team and deserved their win, while Flynn said: “I’m disappointed with the performance.
“We were forced into a lot of changes. I won’t be using that as an excuse, but it did derail what we had been doing.
“Give credit to Crawley because they were extremely good. You learn things in every game, but this was a frustrating afternoon.
“Some of the goals we conceded weren’t good enough. We were beaten by the better team, simple as that.
“We showed a lot of character to get back into the game and I thought we were the better team leading up to 1-1. The penalty changed everything and they finished us off.
“The build-up for the penalty was frustrating because we should have cleared the ball, there was nobody in front when they had the throw-in, so they were allowed to throw it straight into the players feet.
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“It’s not good enough and the players have been told that.”
Jamille Matt scored Newport’s goal, but went off with a hip flexor injury.
“We were 4-1 down and there was no point risking him further so we took him off,” said Flynn.
This was County’s first away defeat in League Two since the opening day of the season.
Crawley captain Filipe Morais, their midfield general, controlled most of the play, but County hit back after conceding an early goal and when Matt, celebrating his birthday, scored just before the hour it looked as though the Welsh club were back in the game.
Franks was penalised when Ollie Palmer went down and Crawley regained the lead from the resulting penalty, a goal which proved decisive.
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Joe Maguire (1 min), Morais (penalty, 64), Palmer (72) and Ashley Nathaniel-George (79) scored for Crawley and Flynn said: “The build-up for the penalty was the frustrating thing because we should have cleared the ball. There was nobody in front when they had and throw-in and they were allowed to throw it straight into the players feet.
“It’s not good enough and they’ve just been told that.”
After fighting so hard to stem the flow of Crawley chances when netting the equaliser, County had to do something similar when trying to react to Morais’ penalty just after the hour.
The goal seemed to invite the Crawley captain to play with more freedom and confidence, meaning County had to go a bit more adventurous and were ultimately caught on the break.
The Exiles have a short window before they travel to Bury FC on Tuesday.
Matt may now join an injury list that already contains Tyler Forbes, Mark O’Brien, Keanu Marsh-Brown, Andrew Crofts, Tyreeq Bakinson, Robbie Willmott and Matty Dolan.
Bury are unbeaten in their last six matches and won 4-0 against Notts Country on Saturday and Flynn said: “Bury have had a great result. It’s going to be a tough one. We’ve just got to knuckle down and try to get some players back for the game and hang in there.”
Matt’s eighth goal of the season was a high point for County, but they slip out of the automatic promotion places on goal difference.
Flynn was forced to make four changes to his injury-hit team.
Tyler Forbes missed out for an unspecified reason and David Pipe came back in, while the Exiles switched to a 4-1-2-3 formation at Broadfield Stadium with Charlie Cooper and Josh Sheehan coming into the midfield.
Injury kept Bakinson, Willmott and Dolan out of the contest with Antoine Semenyo coming in on the right side of the attacking trio.
After registering himself as a player on Friday, Flynn named himself on the team sheet as part of the six substitutes having not played since February 2017.
Newport County AFC (4-1-2-3): Day, Pipe, Demetriou (capt), Franks, Butler, Bennett, Cooper, Sheehan (Harris 70), Semenyo, Matt (Pring 81), Amond. Subs not used: Foulston, Flynn, Hillman, Townsend (gk).
Crawley Town (3-4-1-2): Morris, Francomb, Connolly, Vincelot, Young, Maguire (Doherty 68), Payne (Bulman 81), Camara, Morais (capt), Palmer, Gambin (Nathaniel-George 73). Subs not used: Mersin, Mcnerney, Poleon
Referee: Charles Breakspear
Attendance: 2,157 (336 away)
League Two standings
| POS. | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 |
Lincoln City | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 32 |
| 2 |
 |
Exeter City | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 28 |
| 3 |
 |
MK Dons | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 27 |
| 4 |
 |
Newport County | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | -3 | 27 |
| 5 |
 |
Colchester United | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 25 |
| 6 |
 |
Tranmere Rovers | 14 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 24 |
| 7 |
 |
Bury | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 22 |
| 8 |
 |
Crawley Town | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 22 |
| 9 |
 |
Forest Green Rovers | 14 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 21 |
| 10 |
 |
Stevenage | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 21 |
| 11 |
 |
Carlisle United | 14 | 6 | 1 | 7 | -3 | 19 |
| 12 |
 |
Swindon Town | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | -1 | 18 |
| 13 |
 |
Mansfield Town | 12 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 17 |
| 14 |
 |
Yeovil Town | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
| 15 |
 |
Oldham Athletic | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 17 |
| 16 |
 |
Port Vale | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | -5 | 17 |
| 17 |
 |
Crewe Alexandra | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 15 |
| 18 |
 |
Morecambe | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | -12 | 13 |
| 19 |
 |
Northampton Town | 14 | 2 | 6 | 6 | -9 | 12 |
| 20 |
 |
Grimsby Town | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | -9 | 12 |
| 21 |
 |
Notts County | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | -14 | 12 |
| 22 |
 |
Cheltenham Town | 13 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -9 | 10 |
| 23 |
 |
Cambridge United | 14 | 2 | 3 | 9 | -15 | 9 |
| 24 |
 |
Macclesfield Town | 14 | 1 | 4 | 9 | -12 | 7 |