Michael Flynn insists Newport weren’t distracted by Wembley trip

Posted Sunday, February 04, 2018 by PA

Michael Flynn denied his Newport County side were distracted by the prospect of next week’s FA Cup replay against Tottenham at Wembley after they lost 2-0 at Colchester.

The Exiles fell to a second straight defeat in League Two, after second-half goals from Ben Stevenson and Tom Eastman gave the U’s victory.

Flynn said: “We gave away sloppy goals and it’s got nothing to do with the cup run.

“We were sloppy and the cup run didn’t affect us before when we were winning games and it’s not affecting us now. We weren’t good enough and we conceded two simple goals.

“Before they scored, I thought that we were the better team – we created chances and switched the play a lot and looked quite comfortable – but after that we were way off.

“The first goal was crucial and all week now we’ve had three games and given away six very, very sloppy goals and that includes the one against Spurs.

“We played some really good football and we got into some good positions. It was just the final ball, run or pass that simply wasn’t good enough.

“It was frustrating and after they took the lead, we switched off and the heads went down.”

After a closely-contested first half, Colchester scored twice after half-time to claim victory.

They went ahead just before the hour when Stevenson, signed on loan from Wolves on deadline day, flicked in smartly from close range after the impressive Courtney Senior had driven towards goal and picked him out.

And after Mikael Mandron and Kurtis Guthrie had missed good chances to double their lead, Colchester wrapped up victory with 10 minutes remaining when Eastman squeezed home at the far post after Newport failed to clear Brandon Comley’s corner and Mandron’s shot was blocked.

Colchester boss John McGreal said: “Ben got our first goal and he’s one that gives us something different in midfield.

“It could have been quite easy to put Tom Lapslie there after Sean Murray got injured but Ben showed a cute little flick for the goal and he doesn’t look fazed. He could be gracing the Premier League with Wolves next year if he continues to perform like he has been and it’s a hell of a coup for us to have him.

“We got on the end of a second phase for our second goal and Tom popped up like the poacher he is and put it into the bottom corner.

“Newport do what they do really well and we’ve had to combat that.

“The first half was pretty even but I thought that in the second half, we came into our own a little bit a bit more and it was an excellent win.”