Nelson Jardim expressed his anger following Newport County‘s humiliating defeat to Accrington Stanley on Tuesday night.
The Exiles were pillaged by John Doolan’s Stanley squad, who scored five goals to take a major step towards survival in League Two’s relegation scrap.
“Has To Be A Response”
Speaking to the South Wales Argus following the defeat in Lancashire, Nelson Jardim was quick to get his message across to his players after their performance.
“This is a wake-up call for everyone. The two teams started with different levels of desire and aggression, that was the reason we were down 3-0 after 25 minutes.
“When you lose 5-0 you don’t need to talk too much because the result speaks for itself. It’s not only down to me to find reasons for that. Some of the players will have to find reasons as well.”
“We have 10 games to go and what we saw at Accrington can’t happen again because that was two teams that started with different desire and aggression.
“Against Gillingham we had a different type of aggression to the opposition and did the same as Accrington. We need to start with aggression and desire because that was not good enough. There has to be a squad response.”
The Exiles welcome Harrogate Town to Rodney Parade this weekend in a result which could see The Sulphurites jump above County should Simon Weaver’s side claim all three points.
Writer’s View
All sides are capable of being on the wrong end of a result like this, and the most important factor now is how they respond to the loss. Newport County have slipped back into some worrying form after a brief purple patch earlier this year and have now held their third heavy defeat in their last five games. Doncaster Rovers and Cheltenham Town have also smashed Newport and Harrogate will have watched this performance licking their lips at their chance to pick up a vital win. Jardim will need to galvanise his squad to avoid a similar fate this weekend.
