NEWPORT County caretaker manager Jimmy Dack admits the Exiles’ season is at a crossroads after their 1-0 defeat to Morecambe.

The Exiles slipped to fourth successive defeat to the Shrimps as they fell out of the play-off places for the first time in over two months.

County’s board of directors are set to meet this week with the possibility of appointing a new manager set to be among the topics for discussion, with Newport having received several applications.

And Dack admits performances like Saturday’s reverse at Rodney Parade, where the Exiles had just one shot on target, aren’t filling supporters with much confidence.

“We had 55% possession, but we’ve had had eight shots and only one on target, they’ve had five shots and three on target and we’ve got to be a lot more clinical,” he explained.

“We had lots of possession and chances but you’ve got to put the ball in the net and that’s what I’ve been saying to the players in the dressing room.

“You can talk about the goal we conceded, but we’ve had plenty of balls going into their box, but you want your forward line to start taking some chances really.

“Now is the time we want consistency, we want to finish as high as we can and these boys want to win football matches, but sometimes they have got to have more belief in themselves.

“We were sixth in the league on Saturday and the players need to recognise that and we are now at a crossroads. Do we push on or does it all fizzle out.

“They haven’t been up to third in the league by accident, we were two games unbeaten and we’ve had a good chance to put more points on the board and let it slip, which is very disappointing.

“We have to dust ourselves down and go again, that’s all we can do.

“We will lick our wounds and have a disappointing weekend and then prepare for Burton on Saturday.

“We are very disappointed, I don’t want the season to fizzle out and I hope the players have the same thoughts, we’ve been in a great position and don’t want to let that go.”

Dack revealed striker Aaron O’Connor is injured and a doubt for Saturday’s daunting trip.

“Aaron has been struggling all week with an injury and hasn’t trained all week so decided it would be best if he missed today, it would be nice to have him back for Burton. But we need someone else to step up and start to take chances,” he said.

“That’s what the boy Redshaw did on Saturday, he created a goal out of nothing. He’s had two shots, both on target and we need that, that’s what you are looking for from a striker.”