MICHAEL Flynn slammed promotion-chasing Newport County AFC’s lack of creativity as “embarrassing” and hopes his players share his pain at a costly 1-0 loss to Leyton Orient.

The Exiles were downed by Conor Wilkinson’s second-half strike at Cardiff City Stadium and failed to cause the Londoners any stress.

The winter lack of cutting edge had been blamed on the poor Rodney Parade surface but Flynn & Co had no hiding place on the pristine pitch in the capital.

They probed from deep but failed to cause mayhem where it matters; meaning that three wins on the spin have been followed by a pair of defeats.

“We dominated the ball, it was just frustrating that we didn’t do enough with it,” said Flynn. “The decision-making in the final third was mind blowing.

“It always comes down to me as manager, quite rightly. I get the accolades when things are going well and when things are going badly it’s all my fault.

“That’s fine, but they have to take responsibility because some of the things that we saw in the second half were embarrassing.

“I am really frustrated and it’s hurting me. It’s not just the forwards, it’s the people making the decisions whether crossing, sliding them in, shooting.

“Our best source of scoring was from Mickey Demetriou in the second half. We lost but he was excellent and kept going and going and going.

South Wales Argus: DEFEAT: Joe Ledley on his County debutDEFEAT: Joe Ledley on his County debut

“It's quite worrying when your centre-back is the most creative player you have out there.

“They can’t use any excuses [about the pitch] and we are in it together. We need to look at how we get more creative in the final third; I will take responsibility but the players have to look at themselves as well.”

County now have a fortnight off for the international break before returning for 10 quickfire games in their bid for the play-offs, or potentially the top three if they hit a purple patch.

“It's two weeks to stew on this and I really hope that it hurts them as much as it hurts me,” said Flynn.

“We've got 10 games to go and we have to make sure we finish positively. We have a little break and need to be working hard because it will be a very busy April and we need to make sure we are on our best form.”

County thought they had been saved by an offside flag after Wilkinson’s goal only for referee Samuel Barrott to consult with his linesman then award the opener.

Flynn backed that decision – but felt Orient’s Ouss Cisse was lucky to escape with a yellow card for a coming together with Joss Labadie.

“He wasn't offside. There was nothing wrong with the goal,” said Flynn. “The referee had two big decisions and got one wrong and one right.

“It should have been a red card in the first half - Joss Labadie has been sent off for a lot less than that. It was a red card but he got the goal right, he was bang on.”

Matty Dolan was forced off by a calf strain when the score was 0-0, leading to Joe Ledley making his County debut in the unfamiliar position of centre-back.