Exiles goalkeeper Joe Day made a host of stunning saves in the 3-0 defeat to Notts County.
A double from Jorge Grant either side of Shola Ameobi’s strike ultimately gave the Magpies the victory at Meadow Lane, following Dan Butler’s 33rd minute red card.
But Day, on his 49th consecutive league start for the Exiles, made three point-blank saves to deny Magpies midfielder Elliott Hewitt in the second-half.
He also kept out further efforts from Grant and Ameobi, as well as ex-Sheffield United striker Jon Stead.
Post-match, he spoke exclusively to iFollow Exiles about the Notts County defeat, another terrific away following from the Exiles fans as-well as next week’s Emirates FA Cup tie with Walsall.
On the defeat to Notts County…
“I think it was very disappointing.
“We came here knowing it was going to be a tough game. But we also knew that we wanted to come here and win the game and to go down to ten men after 30 minutes is always a tough task.
“Even so, I thought we probably didn’t defend our goal well enough at times and ultimately pressure sees us concede three and like I say, it’s just disappointing.”
On Dan Butler’s red card...
“From where I was, it just looked like a full-back on full-back challenge, both going for the ball which is something that happens 50 times a game.
“The referee has obviously seen something, we’ve had the analysts look at it who don’t believe it to be a red card but the ref has made his decision and we have to go from there.
“And I think with ten men, you have to stay in the game and then ten minutes into the second half, we’ve conceded two and are three-nil down so it was always going to be a tough task from there.
“Fair play to Notts County, they created quite a lot and they’ve taken their chances today.”
On the bright start made by the Exiles at Meadow Lane…
“I thought first ten minutes we probably deserved a goal.
“Both teams will usually go through spells in a game where they are on top and should score and if you don’t score when you’re on top, especially away from home, then you are going to struggle to take anything from the game.
“But it’s positive that we’ve come to a good team like Notts County and before we’ve gone down to 10 men we’ve caused them some problems.
“It’s just disappointing because we had a plan to come here and it’s not worked.
“It’s unfolded after half-hour but 8th in the league at this point, we’ll take that.
“It’s a positive position for us and as-long as we can stay in the mix, get through Christmas and we can really push on from there.”
On missing Mark O’Brien, Joss Labadie and David Pipe
“It’s bound to affect the side.
“They are three big players for us and losing just one of them would affect the team so to lose all three of them at once, I think it definitely affected us.
“Hopefully before long we’ll have them back.”
On 341 County fans making the trip to Nottingham…
“It’s a fantastic support.
“Each game home and away this year they have been fantastic. We can hear them as-well and we appreciate every bit of support they give to us.
“Obviously, it’s not the result they’d have wanted but I’d like to think that they saw a lot of heart from the team after going down to ten men.
“Let’s see if we can give them an FA Cup run to make up for it.”
On that Emirates FA Cup tie with Walsall next weekend…
“I think everyone is really excited about it.
“Playing against a team in the league above is an opportunity for us to show what we can do and how good we are.
“For me personally, it’s the FA Cup and everybody loves to play in it.
“Everyone likes to get as far as they can so we’ll look to take it as far as we can go.
“It would be great to get a bit of finances in for the club as-well. I think at this level and the community club we’ve got, it’s always something on the players mind’s that we want to bring something for the club and see how far we can go as players as-well.
“The dream is to stay in the cup until the third round and get a big team.”