NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn admitted his side lacked quality and looked short on confidence as they went down to a 1-0 home defeat to lowly Oldham Athletic at Rodney Parade.

Zak Mills scored the only goal of the game in first-half stoppage time to earn all three points for Oldham and their manager – former County assistant boss Dino Maamria.

It was the Latics’ first away win in League Two since August and a second successive home defeat, and third loss in a row, in the league for County.

“We were very poor,” said Flynn. “I thought it was two poor teams. They got the goal and we didn’t look like scoring.

“I don’t know why, if I’m honest. We haven’t been cut open, but we’re just switching off.

“And we’re not looking positive going forward. It’s not good enough – too many balls wasted, too many crosses hitting the front man.

“We didn’t do enough today. It was poor; we had players kicking the ball out of play, people missing tackles, shooting when they should have crossed, crosses hitting the front man.”

Flynn’s men are now down to 11th in the table, albeit with games in hand over many of the sides above them.

“We’ve got work to do, but it’s nothing that we haven’t been through before,” added the Exiles boss.

“It happened last year and the year before, and definitely the year before that, but we’ve got work to do. There are things to iron out.

“It’s the first time since December last year that we’ve lost three in a row in the league and we went through a poor patch then.

“It’s a problem. It’s a bunch of players who look low on confidence.

“Can one or two handle the expectation levels? I’m not sure.

“I tried to be positive but we were poor and I’ve got to take responsibility for that as well.”

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