Newport County manager Graham Coughlan was scathing in his assessment of his team following the 2-1 defeat away at strugglers Colchester United on Good Friday.
Offrande Zanzala opened the scoring for the visitors but that’s as good as it got for Coughlan’s side. The U’s responded through Ellis Iandolo and Jay Mingi to earn an important three points in Essex, as Danny Cowley’s side did their survival prospects the world of good.
This was County’s second away defeat in a row following last week’s 1-0 reverse at play-off chasers Barrow. It’s also their fourth loss in their last six matches, leaving them five points of the top seven.
With just six games remaining, the Welsh-based side know that they need to recover if they are to launch a late assault on the play-off places. They do appear to have a favourable run-in on paper, although losing to a team that had recorded just one win since the turn of the year was not in the script.
Speaking after the game to club’s official media, Coughlan didn’t hold back, saying:
“The performance wasn’t great, neither was the result,”
“We looked at their bench before the game and that proved to be the match-winner. It was a strong bench and we don’t have that at this moment in time.
“We’re missing too many players to be competitive. We’re not strong enough or we’re not good enough in this moment. We’re coming up short in games now and I think the season is catching up with us.
“We’ve asked an awful lot from these group of lads and today a number of them played their 51st game of the season. That’s a big ask and you can see physically and mentally we look like a team that has played that amount of games.
“I don’t have the strength and depth to change the game like they did. The lads are giving their all like they have done since day one, and they are all hurting in there.”
The Exiles now face a tough game at Rodney Park on Easter Monday against ninth-placed Crawley Town. The Red Devils are only one point off seventh-placed Gillingham.
Writer’s View
Newport County are masters of their own downfall at this point. Losing four of the last six has meant they are now merely outsiders for the end-of-season lottery.
For a club boasting players such as 20-goal striker Will Evans, fellow attacker Luke Jephcott and defender Shane McLoughlin, they will be disappointed with the recent blip in form. They will be looking to end this campaign as strongly as they can, so they can kick on next season.
