NEWPORT County AFC boss Justin Edinburgh was disappointed with his side’s performance in the 1-1 home draw with Mansfield Town but defended Lee Minshull after he was sent off.

Midfielder Minshull was shown a straight red for an elbow on Martin Riley before Stags striker Matt Rhead was also dismissed for two yellows.

The red cards overshadowed a poor quality encounter with Chris Zebroski's 30th-minute header being cancelled out by a Sam Clucas header for the visitors on 67 minutes.

“I didn’t have a great view of it but I know 100 per cent that it wouldn’t have been intentional from Lee,” said Edinburgh of the red card.

“It was a heated game and we got caught up in that. There wasn’t a lot of football played out there.

“I was disappointed by our performance. I felt we lacked any real quality and I know we can do better.

“The teams know each other well and I felt if we’d concentrated more on our game and not got caught up in the battle we could have won the game.”

Edinburgh praised goalscorer Zebroski, who was a constant threat up front for County.

“Chris has been excellent for us,” he added. “He’s got four goals for us now and he’s doing a very good job for the side.

“Unfortunately we switched off at the back from a corner and Mansfield got the equalizer but I think we are acquitting ourselves well.

“I’m encouraged by our results so far but I’ve always said it won’t be until 15 games that we see how the league unfolds and we can really judge how teams have started.”