Changes to be made as Newell is left fuming (From Free Press Series)

Changes to be made as Newell is left fuming

ABERGAVENNY coach Keith Newell has warned his players he's ready to wield the axe unless they start scoring more runs. For the second week in a row Newell's men were out played by one of the South Wales Premiership's struggling sides.

The previous week it was Pentyrch who cut ribbons out of a lacklustre Abergavenny team.

On Saturday it was the turn of bottom club Penarth to make an embarrassment of Newell's batting order as they slumped to a pitiful 187 all out.

The Cardiff side eased home 188-6 to condemn Abergavenny to their third defeat of the season and second in just two weeks.

"I didn't think it could get any worse than our defeat against Pentyrch but it did. It was a fiasco," fumed Newell.

"We played very well early on. Alistair Fury did well and there was a reasonable partnership building of about 160-3. After that though we just kept throwing wickets away.

"It was almost like a domino effect at one point. We lost something like seven wickets for just 28 runs. That's just dismal and embarrassing and I hope the players are rightfully embarrassed too."

Alistair Fury (63) and Mark McKinley (38) were the only flickering lights in a shambolic innings. Newell is now contemplating what to do with his side admitting he's ready to blood second team players if it means improved results.

"It was a good wicket and as a par we should have been looking at 250 runs. We didn't have to do anything silly to achieve that.

"The basic plan was there. We just had to knock four or five runs an over and increase it later on.

"It was a shocker. Things might have to change, like where I bat in the order. I might have to move to four to try and control the innings.

"James Schofield in the seconds is playing well. Maybe I will have to bring him up to open the batting. I am not afraid to tinker with the side.

"There are guys who are in the fold like Steve Brown and James Schofield. These guys can come in. Sometimes when you lose two or three games it helps to bring in a different face.

It makes things fresh and that turns things around. In regards to consistency we are not up there yet. We are relying up on a couple of players to score runs and that's not good enough.

"We need some guys to stand up and take the responsibility on themselves to say I'm going to score 100 runs today. No one yet has put their hands up to do that."

Wounded title-chasers Newport are the visitors to Avenue Road this weekend and will be hungry to make amends after losing to Panteg on Saturday.

"I think we are at our strongest when we play at home. It's home advantage and we will want to do well. We have to turn things around.

"We cannot lose another game. We have to do well," urged Newell. The match starts at Avenue Road at 1pm.