NEWPORT County boss Terry Butcher believes Saturday’s display proved the Exiles aren’t no-hopers, but admits he desperately needs a bigger output from his strikers.

The Exiles might have been 3-0 up inside ten minutes on Saturday after a tremendous first half display against Morecambe, but incredibly they trailed 1-0.

It led to Morecambe winning the contest with virtually the last kick of the game and Butcher admits it didn’t need to be that way.

“Perhaps experienced players might have seen the game out, some luck would be nice, but it’s not about that, we’ve got to be more professional,” he said.

“It’s not been a nice week; we lost 3-0 and then had the kick in the guts against Morecambe.

“We started well, we wanted to set a quick tempo, we had wonderful chances, it should have been better finishing from us and it is as simple as that.

“You are looking for a mishit or deflection, anything to score that first goal.

“We get great goals at the moment, wonderful goals, but I’d like some crap ones!

“I think if Morecambe had the same chances, we’d have lost the game in the first half.

“It’s all about confidence. When you do get in positions, it’s natural when you’re confident, but we clearly weren’t.

“But Morecambe have been blitzing teams, they had to change their tactics as a credit to us, but we’ve lost the game, it’s a cruel, cruel game.”

However, Butcher doesn’t feel it is fair to write-off his charges.

“But I feel the nucleus is here and there is great hope,” he said.

“We are far from being no-hopers.

“The level of performance was better, everything I asked of them they did well, other than collecting at least a point.

“We aren’t getting smashed. It is fine margins at the moment, costing us at both ends of the field.”

Morecambe boss Jim Bentley pulled no punches, admitting his side had been fortunate to win.

“It’s disrespectful on Newport that people don’t give them a chance because they’re a good side,” Bentley said post match.

“They’re having big problems off the field but they’ve got lads playing without fear and their formation counteracted ours today.

“We didn’t do the basics the right and they passed the ball round better and created better chances.

“We had to ride our luck at times and it was one of those days where some of our key players struggled.

“The key thing wasn’t to lose the game and we limited them after they scored to very little.”

Bentley admitted the know-how of veteran Kevin Ellison, proved the difference.

“Then Kev (Ellison), who gets knocked because of his age, showed his experience with some clever play to nip in and win the ball and draw the foul.,” he said.

“He’s done brilliantly and then Mullin as a young lad showed no nerves to put away the penalty with the last kick of the game.

“It’s a fantastic win for us but we know we can play better.

“Sometimes winning when you’re not playing well is the sign of a good side though and we’ll take it today.”

The Shrimps had Barry Roche to thank for keeping them in the game and Bentley was full of praise for his goalkeeper.

He said: “Barry Roche was our best player today, no doubt about it.

“He kept us in it when we needed him.

“That’s what he’s paid for, he’s a top-class goalkeeper and I can’t give him enough credit, he was the best player we had.

“Newport were lively. Scott Boden, Lenell John-Lewis, the young lad (Aaron) Collins, I liked him as well. They caused us a lot of problems.”