NEWPORT County AFC manager Graham Westley blamed the naivety of youth for Saturday’s defeat to Plymouth Argyle and he could be without up to seven experienced players for Tuesday night’s crucial clash with Barnet.

County are bottom of the league and seven points from safety with two games in hand after going down 3-1 to the table-toppers at Rodney Parade.

Tuesday’s rearranged home match offers a chance to make up ground but Westley will be without goalkeeper Joe Day, who was sent off against Plymouth.

Jamie Turley, Joss Labadie, Marlon Jackson and Lenell John-Lewis are all sidelined.

And defender Darren Jones and striker Jon Parkin, who scored a spectacular equaliser against the Pilgrims, could also miss out due to injury.

It’s a blow for Westley who was critical of some of his young players, notably Jazzi Barnum-Bobb, after the match on Saturday.

“It’s clear that we’ve got some good, experienced pros who are performing to a good level,” said the Exiles boss.

“I have to commend the likes of Benno [Scot Bennett], Jonah [Jones] – who stayed on despite injury, [Ben] Tozer, [Sean] Rigg and Parkin.

“The senior boys are really doing their bit, really taking us forward.

“But it’s about demanding [higher] standards from the younger boys, about adding a little bit of value to the younger boys and helping them become the type of players that they can be.

“But we need to get them there a little bit quicker than we are at the moment.”

It’s two defeats from two for Westley but he says he knows what needs to be done to improve results.

“I’ve inherited a team at the bottom of the league, I’ve had a look at it now for a couple of games and I can see exactly why they are where they are,” he said.

“It’s about people being honest with themselves and about me helping them to become better players.

“It’s about Jazzi learning to tackle rather than dancing past tackles time after time after time.

“The fans will be watching the game and they’ll be seeing players doing certain things and probably getting frustrated that the problems aren’t getting solved.

“Jazzi and Kyle Cameron both missed too many tackles. And if you keep missing tackles you keep conceding goals.

“They need to learn to be more courageous in the challenge, to come first not second and not to emerge the other side of the tackle and the player but to win the ball instead.

“If we start to get the basics right and win our challenges then, with our extra legs, we’ll give ourselves a platform to build on.

“And if we start making better decisions with the ball we’ll start getting better.

“The league table will look after itself and, providing that we work at the right habits, we’ll get the results we need to find our way up the league.”