MICHAEL Flynn admitted that he was disappointed with the performance of certain individuals as his injury-hit side was crushed 4-1 at Crawley Town.

The manager, who turned 38 on Wednesday, re-registered as a player to name himself on the bench after seeing seven players ruled out before the trip to the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

And Flynn believes he could have done better than some of his starting XI.

They were 1-0 down within 58 seconds as Joe Maguire claimed his first goal for the hosts, who dominated the first half.

County were thankful to goalkeeper Joe Day for several saves, but they were back in it just before the hour when Jamille Matt equalised.

It didn’t last for long as Filipe Morais restored Crawley’s lead from the penalty spot.

Ollie Palmer then headed in the third goal for the hosts and substitute Ashley Nathaniel-George fired home the fourth 11 minutes from time.

Fraser Franks was then shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Nathaniel-George to complete County’s misery.

“I’m disappointed with the performance,” said Flynn.

"We can't start the way we did, it's not good enough and I can't put my finger on it.

“There were one or two [players] I needed to step up today and they weren't good enough.

“I think I could have played better than a few out there. I wouldn’t have done any worse than one or two of them!”

Flynn was without Tyler Forbes, Mark O’Brien, Matty Dolan, Tyreeq Bakinson, Andrew Crofts, Robbie Willmott and Keanu Marsh-Brown.

“We were forced into a lot of changes. That’s not an excuse but it did derail what we were doing,” said the Exiles boss.

“I have to give credit to Crawley as well because I thought they were very good.

“If it wasn’t for Joe Day in the first half it would have been five or six – he was outstanding.

“In the second half we got back into it and we were the better team but the penalty changed it, which was very frustrating.

“After the second goal we tried to chase it then and that’s why we were a little bit more exposed than usual.

“The frustrating thing again is the red card because I’m light on numbers.”

County could appeal Franks’ dismissal but if they are unsuccessful he will be suspended for Tuesday’s trip to Bury, who thumped Notts County 4-0 this afternoon.

“Bury have had a great result and it’s going to be a tough one,” added Flynn.

“We’ve just got to knuckle down and hopefully get some players back and hang in there.

“I had Jay Foulston, who hasn’t played a game, Tom Hillman from the academy and myself on the bench. It’s frustrating but we can’t do anything about it.”