BOSS Michael Flynn believes Newport County were architects of their own downfall as they shipped two late goals in a largely lacklustre display at Leyton Orient on Saturday.

A Ryan Haynes own goal and Ruel Sotiriou strike paved the way for Orient’s 2-1 victory in north-east London, a result that ended County’s four-match unbeaten run in League Two.

The Exiles looked a shadow of the team that had beaten league leaders Swindon Town seven days previously, with Jamille Matt’s injury-time header proving to be nothing more than a consolation.

Flynn will demand a much-improved performance on Tuesday night when struggling Macclesfield Town travel to Rodney Parade (kick-off 7.45pm).

The County chief will hope to have skipper Joss Labadie and defender Ryan Inniss available for the fixture after both pulled out of Saturday’s clash in the warm-up.

Reflecting on the 2-1 loss at the Breyer Group Stadium, Flynn said: “We were nowhere near good enough in the first half.

“We didn’t get tight enough and Leyton Orient passed it around us quite easily.

“We got ourselves into the game and should have had a stonewall penalty, then Jamille missed a good chance.

“We should have been ahead because we were a lot better in the second half, then we conceded two really poor goals.

“If you concede poor goals away from home, you usually come away with no points.

“I can make up all the excuses in the world, but I’m not going to. The two goals that we conceded killed the game.”

He added: “Joss didn’t feel well so we had to pull him out, we couldn’t risk him, and Ryan Inniss has got a calf problem.

“It wasn’t an ideal start and it affected things, but, like I said, there are no excuses because we dealt with their corners quite well all game, then we switched off.

“The poor marking for the first goal killed us.

“We went 1-0 down and definitely lost our shape a little bit. We allowed them to get a second, then bizarrely, we probably should have got something out of it.

“We finished with 10 (County had no substitutes left after Mark O’Brien left the field injured), so not a great day.”

Flynn continued: “We had Leyton Orient watched on Tuesday evening (the O’s drew 1-1 with Northampton Town) and knew there was going to be a reaction from them because they were poor in the first half.

“The players knew what to expect, we highlighted everything, and we just weren’t at it in the first half.

“I thought Leyton Orient were better than us, that was mostly the first half, and then we shot ourselves in the foot in the last 10 minutes.”

Looking ahead to Macclesfield, he said: “We’ll have to have a look at who’s fit and available and we’ll go from there.”

Meanwhile, County will host Salford City in the Leasing.com Trophy semi-finals if they win their rearranged tie against Leicester City U21s on February 4.