WE STARTED VICTORY BID TOO LATE, DECLARES ROWBERRY

NEWPORT County boss James Rowberry lamented leaving their glory push too late after they slipped to a costly 2-1 defeat to Crawley. The Exiles have now dropped out of the League Two play-off spots after falling to a 2-1 loss at Rodney Parade, their third defeat on the bounce on home soil.

County were poor in the first half and conceded goals to Ashley Nadesan and Ludwig Francillette.

James Waite gave them hope approaching the hour with a smart finish from a superb move but late chances were wasted and Crawley held on for a deserved win.

“We paid for a poor first half, we weren’t our usual selves and that ultimately cost us the game. We need to be better, we will be better and we will go again,” said Rowberry, whose side travel to promotion rivals Sutton tomorrow.

“We weren’t able to get our passing game going, there were too many turnovers from our own doing, we didn’t win enough first contacts or second balls, and we didn’t defend our own box well enough.

“On the positive side of it, we addressed a few things at half-time and were better in the second half.

“The players have been terrific for me since I’ve been here so we’ve just got to learn from it and go again.”

Rowberry cut a frustrated figure in the dugout in the first half but didn’t give his players the hairdryer treatment.

“We spoke about a few tactical tweaks, about a few things around the edge of our box and trying to get in behind them, because we didn’t do that well enough in the first half and didn’t stretch the game,” he said.

“We tried to rectify that and got a great goal in the second half, which was a great finish, then we had enough chances to equalise.

“John [Yems, Crawley manager] will say that they deserved the win, and I understand that, but we did enough to get an equaliser with the chances we created. Rob Street normally scores that chance but he was terrific when he came on.”

Crawley caused County all manner of problems in the first half and could have gone in more than 2-0 up.

The Reds are mid-table and unable to make a late charge for the play-offs but have now won four from five.

“You have to give Crawley a bit of credit as well. They are almost playing with freedom with nothing to play for [in terms of promotion or relegation],” said Rowberry.

“They are playing for their places under John and when they will be under new ownership. They got a good start and moved the ball particularly well in the first half when we didn’t cope with that as well as we normally do.”