NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn offered no excuses as his side began 2019 with a demoralising defeat to 10-man Stevenage at the Lamex Stadium.

The hosts had Kurtis Guthrie sent off six minutes before half-time for a reckless challenge on former Boro defender Fraser Franks.

County then took charge and missed a hatful of chances, with top scorer Padraig Amond the main culprit, before Stevenage snatched the win thanks to an Alex Revell header five minutes from time.

“We missed too many chances and we gave away an easy goal, it was as simple as that,” said Flynn, whose side drop to 12th in the League Two table after a fourth defeat in five games.

“We weren’t good enough and the longer it went on you saw their goal coming. We knew it wasn’t our day.

“If you don’t take your chances, you get bitten on the backside.”

Flynn felt his side didn’t do enough to make their numerical advantage pay but when they did create opportunities, mostly through crosses from Robbie Willmott, the changes went begging.

“We didn’t move the ball quickly enough against 10 men,” said the manager.

“We saw what Forest Green did to us with 10 men [on Boxing Day] but we just didn’t kill them off.

“Robbie put a lot of good balls in but it was just miss after miss. It was almost like shooting practice at one point.

“It wasn’t for a lack of trying,” added Flynn. “The boys did work hard but they just froze [in front of goal].

“They missed too many chances. They would have been putting those away a few weeks ago.

“Amond could be on 20 goals already after the last two games.

“But if he’s not scoring, we’ve got to keep a clean sheet and it should have been 0-0 if we weren’t going to score.

“The fans didn’t stop. They gave up their New Year’s Day and I’m just sorry we couldn’t give them the three points.”

Stevenage boss Dino Maamria, who was assistant manager at County under Graham Westley in the 2016-2017 season, was delighted with the win but annoyed by the red card.

“I thought it was a fantastic game,” said Maamria. “Both teams went for it and in the second half we were different class.

“The start wasn’t too good but we always get stronger in the second half and we did it with 10 men this time.

“I thought we were fantastic and we should be talking about the win and the brilliant performance of the players but, unfortunately, we have to talk about the referee again.

“I’m going to see him again. I asked him at half-time if he was sure [about the red card] and he said he was because he stamped on his thigh.

“I’ve spoken to Fraser Franks and he said it was a clash of knees and I watched the footage and it was a clash of knees.

“Guthrie went to win the ball and they both missed it. His knee clashed with Fraser’s. It wasn’t a red card. It’s not even a free-kick.”