NEWPORT County AFC midfielder Lee Minshull says the players need to forget the excuses and stop feeling sorry for themselves if they want to stop the slide down the League Two table.

Minshull rescued a point for County against Exeter City on Sunday with his fourth strike of the season to cancel out Harry Worley’s own goal.

But the Exiles’ failure to beat the relegation-threatened Grecians at Rodney Parade stretched their poor run to one win in 14 games.

And goal hero Minshull says there needs to be a change of attitude in the squad.

“We’ve got to pick ourselves up and stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get some wins on the board,” said the 28-year-old.

“The disruptions meant we didn’t play many games but we can come up with any number of excuses; we simply haven’t been performing well enough.

“It’s not been a bad season but when you look at where we were (before this run) then it’s disappointing.

“We were really putting teams to bed here but most of the people I bump into on a daily basis are just happy to be back in the Football League and playing big clubs in front of big crowds.

“So, of course realism has to come into it but if you’re not striding to move forward you’ll end up going backwards.”

Minshull feels that Edinburgh’s men may come to regard Sunday’s result as a good point by the end of the season but he knows they need to get a win as soon as possible.

“A draw was probably a fair result in the end,” he said.

“It would have been nice to go on and get the three points but probably it was a good point.

“It’s not always easy. No one is ever going to give you the points and we’ve just got to keep working hard.

“It was good that we held on for the point at the end because we’ve had a bit of rotten luck at the end of games in the last couple of weeks.

“It was good to give people something positive to go home with.

“We’ve seen teams come from nowhere (to make the play-offs) so it can be done,” he added.

“But the most important thing is to get some wins on the board before we start talking about that.

“There are a lot of teams like ourselves hoping for three points at the minute, Exeter included.”

Minshull believes tomorrow’s home clash with Dagenham & Redbridge and Saturday’s trip to bottom club Torquay United offer the chance to bag that elusive victory.

“I don’t think any games are must-win at the minute but we need a win sooner rather than later,” he said.

“Hopefully we can get three points and build from there.”