SEAN McCarthy has reassured Newport County AFC fans that their side is working hard to eliminate the mistakes that have seen them keep just one clean sheet so far this season.

County have conceded 10 goals in six league fixtures and 17 in all competitions to date – one more if you include the abandoned game against Barnet.

Early goals have also been a cause for concern for boss Warren Feeney, and McCarthy knows concentration levels must improve if things are to change for the better.

“They are a good bunch of lads and an honest group of players,” said former Premier League striker McCarthy. “We’re leaking the odd goal or two but we’re working in training to eradicate that.

“There are lots of things you can do depending on what formation you play.

“We have got players in the team who can score and we are scoring goals, that’s not our problem, it’s trying to keep clean sheets.

“Our concentration levels have got to be high from the kick-off so we don’t concede silly goals.

“Credit to the players for coming back twice on Saturday. When they went a goal down last season heads dropped and other sides might have got two or three.

“The manager has got an honest bunch of lads who want to work hard and listen, and that’s half the battle.”

He added: “We’ve got to be positive at the end of the day. We were disappointed on Saturday because it felt like we dropped two points.

“But we still picked up one and that was one more than we had before the game started.”

McCarthy, whose side go to League Two’s joint highest scorers Doncaster Rovers this Saturday, also praised the support the fans have given the Exiles during a tricky start to the new campaign.

“The fans haven’t booed us when we’ve gone a goal down and they’ve clapped us off,” he said. “The fans have been different class.

“I’ve been at clubs where you could never please supporters but the Newport fans are fantastic for us.

“People will be writing us off on Saturday but we’ve got a good changing room and who’s to say we can’t do what we did at Leyton Orient and win.

“At the end of the day you can tell players everything about the other team but it’s about what we do that matters.”