SCOT Bennett says Newport County AFC’s game management must be better if they are to stop conceding late goals and dropping vital points.

County head to Swindon Town today (kick-off 3pm) bidding to end a six-game winless run in League Two.

Their last three outings, against Port Vale, Accrington Stanley and, on Tuesday night, Barnet, have yielded just two points.

However, they held leads in all of those matches

before their rivals struck back in the closing stages to deny the Exiles victory.

“I don’t know what it is at the minute because we should be able to do it (hold on),” the versatile Bennett told iFollow Exiles.

“We’ve shown early on in the season that we could do it and for the last three games we haven’t been able to do it, and it’s not good enough.

“We’ve got to work on it, it’s just game management, and at the minute we’re just making little mistakes like losing the ball on the halfway line.

“That lets them have a run at the defence and get a free header at the back post.

"It’s not good enough at this level and we can’t let these goals keep happening.”

Reflecting on the midweek defeat to Barnet, when County saw a 1-0 advantage wiped out by two late Bees strikes, he added: “To let it happen again, it’s the third time in a row that we’ve let a lead slip so it’s a hard one to take.

“We need to start looking at ourselves now because it’s not good enough.

“I thought the first half was just a scrap, it was a hard game to get into with the weather and the pitch.

“I thought for 15 or 20 minutes of the second half we played quite well, did

alright and got into the game.

“We got the ball down a bit but once we score we’ve got to keep them out in the last 10 minutes.

“It’s two really bad goals to concede again.”

He continued: “In the first half it was really difficult to judge the bounce (of the ball) and it was a battle.

“They tried to hit it to the two frontmen and turn us.

“We sort of got drawn into their game a little bit and after that we had a chat and sussed it wasn’t good enough in the first half.

“It was just us playing their game, lumping the ball forward and, like I say, in the second half we settled down a little bit and that’s where we got our goal from.

“But to capitulate like we did in the last 10 minutes is just a shame.”

If there was anything positive to take from Tuesday's loss to struggling Barnet it came in the shape of on-loan defender Ben White’s first goal in professional football.

The Brighton loanee gave the Exiles, who are still only four points off the play-off places in 10th, a 73rd-minute lead.

But John Akinde levelled two minutes from time and then Shaquile Coulthirst clinched it for the visitors with a 90th-minute winner.

“It’s always nice to score your first professional goal and break that duck,” said Bennett.

“He’s settled into the team so well, he’s a class act and it’s nice for him to get the goal.

“It would have been better for us to have won the game and Ben to get his goal in a win, but hopefully now he can kick on and score a few more."

Meanwhile, Swindon skipper Olly Lancashire is confident the Robins will bounce back at the County Ground today following a 3-2 defeat by Grimsby Town on Tuesday.

“He (Exiles boss Michael Flynn) is doing a very, very good job there,” he said.

“Newport is a tough place to go and play and I expect teams are finding it tough there.

“But we’re back at the County Ground and we’ll be looking to bounce back well, which we have done this season.

“We’re a good team, we know what we’re good at and when we do it we will more often than not win games.’’