NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn admitted his team looked more like relegation battlers than promotion chasers as they slumped to defeat against struggling Stevenage on Saturday.

Chris Whelpdale headed in just before half-time to give the visitors a deserved lead and County could not respond.

The Exiles have won just once in their last 12 league games and are without a victory at Rodney Parade since January 19.

The defeat saw them drop to 13th in the League Two table and they remain 11 points below the play-off places with just six games left to play.

County, who have finished 22nd in the last two campaigns, are 18 points above the bottom two and not in any danger of going down and the manager is pleased not to be looking over his shoulder.

“It’s a rude awakening and it’s lucky that we’ve got the points on the board because we are making some terrible mistakes and we didn’t really look like scoring,” he said.

“We lost that game with our first-half performance. It was not good enough. In the second half we were the better team, we huffed and puffed but we could still be there now and we wouldn’t have scored.

“I made the changes at the end just to go for it – we were two at the back at one point.

“I wanted to get the goal but as much as they sat back we still couldn’t create anything.”

The Exiles boss conceded that a top-seven finish now looks unlikely and he questioned the attitude of his players.

“The play-offs look improbable but we have to keep battling,” said Flynn.

“We just played against a team with nothing to play for and they looked more up for it.

“They wanted it more, they won more challenges and they looked stronger than us.”

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In mitigation, Flynn pointed to the key men who missed the match through injury, while others were not 100 per cent fit.

“We were missing Mark O’Brien, Joss Labadie, Paul Hayes and Shawn McCoulsky,” he added. “David Pipe only just made it and Marlon Jackson was ill.

“But the boys on the pitch should have done better and I’ll take responsibility for that.”

O’Brien is likely to be fit to face Swindon Town at Rodney Parade next Saturday but loan star McCoulsky could still be out after being diagnosed with a heart condition called pericarditis.

The striker will return to his parent club Bristol City to be assessed this week and may well have played his last game in a County shirt.

“Mark’s knee swelled up after training on Thursday,” explained Flynn.

“I spoke to Shawn and he’s in good spirits but he needs total rest so I don’t know [how long he’ll be out].

“Bristol City want him to see their own doctor and he’s their player so we’ll go on what they say.”