DEFENDER Mickey Demetriou admits Newport County AFC need to be more ruthless if they are to earn a first League Two win of the season at Coventry City.

County have scored six goals in their first three matches of the campaign – including a thunderbolt from Demetriou at Stevenage – but they could not beat 10-man Crewe Alexandra at the weekend.

The hosts battled back to level the match after having a man sent off in the 17th minute at Gresty Road and the Exiles missed several chances to win the game.

Two draws out of two in League Two leaves Michael Flynn’s men 16th in the early-season table and Demetriou knows they will need to improve when they take on leaders Coventry at the Ricoh Arena this coming Saturday.

“Coventry is big game against a big club and we need to be more ruthless,” said Demetriou.

“Hats [coach Wayne Hatswell] and the gaffer have always said we need to be more ruthless in front of goal.

“We need to work hard on the training ground and finish our chances.”

Demetriou believes the Exiles were fortunate to take a point at Crewe after failing to make the most of their numerical advantage.

“I thought we played well, we created chances, but obviously the disappointing thing is that they went down to 10 men and we stopped playing,” he said.

“To be honest, I think they were the better team when they had 10 men so it was obviously a frustrating afternoon for all of us.

“Both teams created chances – we could have lost 4-1 and we could have won 4-1 – so a point is probably a fair result but we were lucky probably to get out with a point.”

County’s trip to Coventry is their fourth successive away match at the beginning of the new campaign and they also head to Leeds United in the Carabao Cup next week.

That means they will have clocked up roughly 1,664 miles on the road before Rodney Parade is ready to host the club’s first home game against Chesterfield on August 26.

But Demetriou is not complaining about the tough schedule.

“The boys have done three big away games so there has been a lot of travelling on the road but we can’t do anything about that,” said the 27-year-old.

“We need to take that on the chin and thankfully Coventry is not that far so we will recharge our batteries this week and work hard in training.

“We need take the positives,” he added. “We have had two draws and a win in the cup so we are unbeaten and we go again.”

County’s Carabao Cup second round tie against Leeds at Elland Road has been confirmed for Tuesday, August 22 (kick-off 7.45pm).

“It’s a tie we’re all looking forward to,” said Demetriou.

“But the most important thing is the league game on Saturday. We need to go there for the three points.”