Newport County are looking for a new penalty taker after manager Mike Flynn confirmed he will be relieving central defender Mickey Demetriou of his duties in the wake of the 2-1 defeat at Cheltenham Town.
Demetriou missed for the second time this season from the spot with a kick that could have helped to salvage a point.
Cheltenham were two goals to the good at the stage, although Antoine Semenyo eventually pulled one back for the visitors in the final minute of the contest.
“We all miss penalties but Mickey won’t be taking penalties again for us,” confirmed Flynn. Demetriou also missed against Forest Green Rovers.
Not that Flynn was pointing the finger at his experienced defender for the defeat.
That, he claimed, should be put firmly at his door as his side fell to a team that hadn’t won in the 10 games in League Two since the beginning of September.
Mistakes by Fraser Franks and Joe Day in the first half allowed the hosts to take charge through goals from Will Boyle on 18 minutes and Tyrone Barnett on 44 minutes.
It meant Flynn’s men, who host Northampton Town on Tuesday, dropped from third to fifth.
“It’s my fault we lost the game, I picked the wrong team in the first half. I’m going to take the blame and I’ll take it on the chin – it’s my fault,” admitted Flynn.
“I didn’t pick it because I wanted to, it’s kind of what I had to do. We were trying to play a game in the first half without a midfield.
“Joss Labadie, Andrew Crofts, Robbie Willmott, Matty Dolan and Scott Bennett were all missing and it showed where we were short.”
Franks ducked out of clearing a cross from Ryan Broom for the opening goal, allowing Boyle to head home from eight yards out.
The centre-back nearly made amends soon afterwards, but his bullet header was well saved by Scott Flinders in the Cheltenham goal.
The second home goal came after Day failed to hold on to a shot from Chris Hussey and Barnett was on hand to fire in the rebound from close range.
Mark O’Brien and Andrew Crofts replaced Cameron Pring and Charlie Cooper at half-time and Newport improved after the break and could have rescued a point at the death.
“They did the job on us in the first half and they were very professional. We didn’t win one second-ball in the first half and we kept kicking it on to their centre-halves’ heads, which we worked on all week not to do,” added Flynn.
“The only positive was that Mark O’Brien and Andrew Crofts got 45 minutes and they looked very good. Those two were superb when they came on and that’s the only positive I can take.”
