Flynn fuming after ‘inexcusable’ defending sees Newport slip late on

Posted Sunday, January 13, 2019 by PA

Mike Flynn slammed his side’s defending as Newport crumbled to a late 3-2 defeat at Crewe six days after their FA Cup heroics.

It was a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ for Mike Flynn’s side who failed to reach the levels of defensive endeavour they showed when dumping Leicester out at Rodney Parade.

The Exiles were fortunate to find themselves 2-1 ahead going into the dying minutes after capitalising on some slipshod defending by Crewe with Antoine Semenyo and Padraig Amond firing home.

But cup hero Fraser Franks erred when gifting Crewe an 88th-minute penalty converted by Chris Porter before Callum Ainley drove in a stoppage-time winner for the hosts.

Flynn admitted: “We can’t defend and it as simple as that. It was inexcusable, it was a 100 per cent penalty, and the third goal summed it was like something off a Carry On movie.

“I’m angry because they’re making the same mistakes. I’ve told them, but we’ve got to keep working and try to fix it. We should have seen that game out as Crewe didn’t look like scoring in the second half – they then go and score two in four minutes.

“I need to get someone in as these have gone off the boil. You saw how much they defended against Leicester and with near enough the same team we were nowhere near in the first half. We may need three in.”

Newport were on the back foot against a strong wind in the first half and incapable of dealing with Crewe’s swift attacking, and Jordan Bowery opened the scoring in the 34th minute.

But they failed to make their domination count and Bowery headed tamely at Joe Day while Porter also wasted a chance.

Day continued his heroics after the restart saving from Perry Ng and George Ray.

But Newport were level when Semenyo found room on the far side of the box to drive in a first-time effort, before Amond turned home after Crewe failed to deal with a high ball.

Flynn’s side appeared to be heading for their first league win in six, but Crewe were not done and boss Dave Artell was quick to praise the spirit of his side.

“The character we showed won us that game,” said Artell. “It should have been more than 1-0 by half-time and we have got to be a bit more ruthless when we are on top.

“For the third goal, after Owen Dale had a shot we lining up literally to force it into the net.

“But it was no surprise that we scored late on because we’d played so well retaining possession in the first half that the Newport players were spent.

“Chris Porter has scored five goals in the last five and that is what he does. He is as marksman and that is a terrific return for him.”