Defenders in the balance as Exiles to sign Byron Anthony (From South Wales Argus)

Defenders in the balance as Exiles to sign Byron Anthony

11:20am Monday 12th November 2012 in Newport County

NEWPORT County boss Justin Edinburgh admits it’s time to shake things up at the back as the Exiles’ defensive woes continued at Alfreton.

Though the Conference table-toppers can make a claim to being the most entertaining and unpredictable side in the country at the moment – 30 goals in their last five games, 15 for, 15 against – Edinburgh was rightly angry as his side slipped to a 4-3 reverse at the Impact Arena.

The boss has made clear his desire to sign Byron Anthony this week and has admitted his defensive players are all under particular scrutiny following the damaging defeat.

“Our defending wasn’t good enough, it hasn’t been for weeks,” he said.

“We’ve conceded two very sloppy goals and the way we started the game made it very difficult for us.

“We are making individual errors, I can’t coach individual errors, but of course we’ll work hard on the training pitch, but we might have to start looking at changing the personnel.

“I don’t mean with new players, we’ve got good players at the club who can change the team and it’s something I am certainly considering. On Friday we weren’t disciplined enough in our own box and we weren’t clinical enough in Alfreton’s.”

On the signing of ex-Bristol Rovers man Anthony, a Newport boy, Edinburgh was positive.

“Byron is a good player, he’s trained with us, impressed me and we’ll sit down and talk with him this week and hope to have him in place for Hyde on Saturday,” he told the Argus.

However, as much as he was aggrieved by his players, Edinburgh was also angry with the officiating, believing Alfreton’s opener to be offside and their penalty for the third goal wrongly allowed for a foul outside the area. “The decisions are major and have influenced the outcome of the game, that can’t be disputed,” he said.