NEWPORT County AFC manager Graham Westley has warned his players that he will not tolerate another performance like the one that resulted in a 2-0 home defeat to Stevenage.

A Darren Jones own goal and a second from Tom Pett before half-time sealed the win on a Rodney Parade pitch that was covered in sand.

The result leaves County bottom of the table, one point from safety with all sides having played 19 games.

“I don’t think an inquest is needed,” said Westley afterwards.

“I think it’s obvious; we played an experienced side, an expensively assembled side and a side that was prepared to be cynical.

“Charlie Lee showed how cynical they were prepared to be to win the game late on when he tried to score from the free drop ball.

“And you have to be professional, if you want to call it that, to win games.

“We didn’t run hard enough and we didn’t compete strongly enough.

“It’s a surface where you have to be game-intelligent and we weren’t game-intelligent enough.

“We showed naivety and we didn’t do enough of those basic things.

“And if you don’t do the basic things in football you pay the price, “We had more than enough chances to get something from the game but we weren’t clinical.

“And the lack of clinicality in the final third reflected the lack of clinicality throughout the pitch.

“There’s some harsh words been said because I won’t tolerate that.

“I’m not going to pull any punches.”

He added: “It is a difficult surface but once again I’ve got it wrong.

“I’ve not got enough players prepared to fight and battle, win the first ball and the second ball, be game-intelligent and put the ball in the right areas.

“I thought I’d got the mix right but the players proved me wrong with the performance they showed this evening.”

Westley also revealed that the FA Cup replay at home to Plymouth Argyle, which was due to be played on December 13, may now be moved to December 21 as a result of a “TV enquiry.”