Joe Dunne slams Cambridge as he endures one of worst days of career at Newport
Posted Sunday, September 30, 2018 by PA
Cambridge manager Joe Dunne questioned the desire of his players after they capitulated at Newport.
The U’s were 2-0 up in the first half thanks to a solo brace from Reggie Lambe.
But four goals in 18 minutes either side of the break from Mickey Demetriou, Padraig Amond and a Jamille Matt brace turned the tables to earn a 4-2 victory for Michael Flynn’s side.
Cambridge’s fourth game without a win leaves them in 20th position in League Two and Dunne believes his men will need to conjure some character if they are to get themselves out of trouble.
“The goal just before half-time completely changed their mentality,” said Dunne. “We spoke about staying in the game for the next 15 minutes at half-time and working harder like we did in the opening 15 minutes.
“We controlled a lot of how they played – we defended the box, had set-plays and scored great goals. It was perfect.
“Then there was the really stupid penalty and then after that the whole second half was stupidity.
“We didn’t show enough grit and determination to battle for a point in the second half and that’s what you get.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t defend and it was a really poor team performance.
“It’s about your gut instinct and fight and how much you want to win, you can’t coach that, it comes from within.
“Even after the penalty we were 2-1 up, but the second half made it my worst day in football other than the day I retired.
“We have capitulated before and given away easy goals and that’s what teams will think they have to do against us now.”
In contrast, the victory for Newport lifted them into second place ahead of the visit of struggling Macclesfield.
“The fans got their money’s worth but it’s no good for my blood pressure,” said Newport manager Flynn.
“The way we started just wasn’t what we’re about and you start fearing the worst with Joe Day missing then Mark O’Brien going off and then you go 2-0 down. They were poor goals – we gave them too much time and too much space.
“You start to think, ‘what else can go wrong?’. But we made a big decision to put Jamille on and it changed the game. He won the flick-on when Coops (Charlie Cooper) got pushed and it was a definite penalty.
“Goals change games and we’ve shown an abundance of character today.
“Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but I’m paid to make those decisions and I hope I get more right than I get wrong.
“Today we were excellent, apart from the two goals. The players put a lot of effort in and showed the fans how much it means to them.”
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