By Rob Cole
One slip, two points dropped, but a frustrated Newport County manager wasn’t going to point the finger solely at Ben White for his side losing their grip of a game they should have won, but ended up drawing 1-1 at home to Coventry City.
Coventry came to Rodney Parade looking to extend their six match unbeaten run and consolidate their place in the play-off places. For Michael Flynn’s side it was a chance to post a first home win since 19 January and keep alive their faint chances of reaching the top seven.
Having marvelled at Mickey Demetriou popping up in the Coventry six yard box to bag his fifth league goal of the season to put Newport 1-0 ahead against the run of play on 40 minutes, Flynn then had to endure the horrors of White completely missing a bouncing ball in the centre circle and gifting possession to Sky Blues danger man Kyel Reid.
He gratefully received the ball, gift-wrapped a far post cross for French striker Max Biamou, who volleyed home to level the scores with his first touch two minutes after coming on in the 77th minute. That made it 1-1 and, in the end, Flynn was happy to hang on for a draw.
“It was unlike Ben to make a mistake like that. I told he might be able to go in with his studs up to trap the ball on a nice pitch, but you can’t do that at Rodney Parade,” said Flynn.
“It’s about him learning from it and I’m sure he will because he’s a bright player. We were the better team in the second half, but Coventry are one of the form teams.”
Paul Hayes and Robbie Wilmott combined up the left hand side to pave the way for Demetriou’s goal. Wilmott’s cross was flicked on at the near post by Padraig Amond to allow Demetriou to score.
Coventry travelled to South Wales with 1500 fans looking to extend their unbeaten run to seven games and strengthen their grip on a play-off place. They now have to face Yeovil on Monday.
As for County, they head to relegation threatened Chesterfield with a frustrated Flynn hoping to pick up only a second win in 13 matches.
“Half-a-dozen players had an off day last week against Crewe, but I thought they were excellent today and I was proud of their performance,” added Flynn.
“They have been fantastic this season and their performance deserved the full three points. They came with a lot of confidence, but we grew into the game.
“We were so much better in the second half, although in the end I was frustrated to draw, but delighted not to lose because they have quality throughout.
“Now we are up for another scrap with Chesterfield on Monday. That’s going to be a tough game for us.”
