A bad afternoon for Rovers but at least we battled with ten men.
We did not get going in the first half. Newport were physical and niggly and got a grip of midfield, particularly through Labadie. This was not the sort of game that Ollie Banks likes, but he was a passenger in the first half, and with his poor performance we did not get the ball down and construct anything through midfield.
Jackson made the necessary tactical change at the break, taking Banks off and bringing Feeney on, and it is quite possible we could have got back in the game without the red card incident. The decision looked very harsh to me, but was completely predictable given Newport's gamesmanship throughout the game. We actually played our best football of the match with ten men, largely due to the contibution of Young who was very impressive and used the ball well, and was the biggest positive to come from the afternoon. I would not be surprised if he starts ahead of Banks on Tuesday night. It was also encouraging that we again showed spirit when things went against us and the players' heads did not drop.
Individually, Monthe was really poor with a mistake for the first goal, and an equally bad error in the second half which could have resulted in a second. Kahn, Morris and Feeney all did ok and Clarke was as solid as usual. Young was the real bright spark.
Not a disaster and we have two winnable home games coming up where we can get points on the board.