NEWPORT County AFC goalkeeper Tom King admits he and his teammates fell below the standards they’ve set themselves on Saturday and he’s promising a reaction against Walsall tonight.

King was at fault as Cambridge United scraped a 1-0 win at Rodney Parade at the weekend thanks to Liam O’Neil’s second-half strike.

The 24-year-old has conceded just 24 goals in 27 appearances in all competitions this season and he was rewarded for his fine form with a call-up to the Wales squad in November.

But he accepts that he should have done better when he could only parry a long-distance effort from Paul Mullin into the path of Cambridge striker Victor Adeboyejo, who teed up O’Neil for the winner.

That was the decisive moment in a poor-quality contest that County dominated in terms of possession, shots and corners won.

“It’s a hard one to take,” said King afterwards. “I didn’t think we deserved to lose the game.

“It was an error, which I take on the chin, and I’ll be looking to bounce back from that on Tuesday.

“I’ve got to do better than that. I set my standards higher than that and I think we set our standards higher than that so we’ll be looking for a reaction on Tuesday.

“I think there wouldn’t have been any complaints from either side if it had finished 0-0,” added the former Millwall man.

“I don’t think we did enough to deserve to win the game, but I don’t think we deserved to be losers on the day.

“We’ll be looking for a strong reaction on Tuesday and hopefully we can put things right.”

South Wales Argus:

Walsall moved level with the Exiles on 39 points thanks to a 2-1 win at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday and they will be looking to leapfrog Michael Flynn’s men this evening.

But King says the players will be determined to bounce back and make up ground on the teams immediately above them.

County are currently 13th in the table but a win tonight could see them overtake 12th-placed Crawley Town, who are at second-placed Crewe Alexandra, and 11th-placed Salford City, who host fourth-placed Plymouth Argyle.

“That’s the good thing about so many games in such a short space of time – you’re able to get a reaction straightaway from the lads,” said King.

“We’ll be in working hard [in training] and [we’ll be] ready to put things right on Tuesday.”

The goalkeeper is also keen to get the supporters back on side after a disappointing day on Saturday when County were booed off by a minority at the final whistle.

“We can’t do it without the fans,” he said. “They’re vital to the way that we want to play – high intensity, high tempo.

“They drive us forward, they want to push us and hopefully we can give them something to properly shout about on Tuesday, because we didn’t [on Saturday].”

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