Backside’ for Robins in Trophy
really, really poor goals because in transition we weren’t organising quick enough and it didn’t mean enough to not let the ball come in our box.
“The last five minutes of the game summed up the difference between the two teams.
“The keeper has made a couple of good saves and they’ve made three or four really good blocks, even at 7-4 up, that was the difference.”
He added: “We didn’t stop the ball coming in the box, we didn’t block, we didn’t get tight to men. Pretty much everything you want your team to do if you do a defending session, we didn’t do any of it.
“We looked good and nice on the ball, but you need to be good without the ball as well and we have been.
“Our defensive record is good and it’s a bit of a freak. If we conceded seven goals every week it’d be different.
“We don’t get too carried away, but I don’t think we’ve become a bad team overnight.
“It’s a learning curve that you need to do the horrible side of the game, particularly in this league, a hell of a lot better than that.”
On the return of Reid, Duff said: “I thought he was excellent when he came on, showing what he is about, looking quite sharp considering the amount of football he’s had.
“I though Alex (Addai) did well and Lloydy (George) was good.
“You look at the other end of the pitch and there were some positives.
“The defensive record has been good, so it’s not a case of ripping it up and starting again.
“Reuben was a positive, (Max) Sheaf, Alex and Lloydy were positives.”
But it was a torrid night for Lovett, and Duff said: “The easy thing would have been to take him off.
“But he’s a young player, inexperienced – we’ve all had them.
“Unfortunately the position he plays in, when he has one, everybody sees it. It’s a glaring mistake and he made a couple.
“I told him at half-time, ‘you are not coming off so it’s up to you to respond and try to get through it.’
“We’ll help him through it now and Booky (goalkeeping coach Steve Book) will do some work with him on the mental side of the game and how you recover, and he’ll have to learn.
“That’s the life of a goalie, unfortunately. You can be brilliant for 89 minutes and make a mistake and lose the game 1-0.
“It’s our job to help him and to make it a learning curve. You learn from every game and he’ll learn from that. It’s the same with the rest of the players”
Cheltenham Town: R Lovett; C Raglan, B Tozer, W Boyle; S Long, C Clements, R Ince, M Sheaf (R Reid 59), C Hussey (J Greaves 59); A Addai, G Lloyd. Subs not used: S Flinders, A Brennan, J Doyle-hayes, J Smith, A Evans-harriott.
Newport: N Townsend, D Jefferies, K Howkins, J Woodiwiss (S Bennett 90), G Nurse; C Whitely, M Dolan (C Jones 82), T Maloney, L Collins; D Poleon, T Abrahams (R Hiller 76). Subs not used: R Haynes, J Labadie, P Amond, J Matt.
Referee: Andy Woolmer.
Attendance: 774 (63 away).
Star Man: Alex Addai.