Newport County’s assistant head coach Dafydd Williams believes there were plenty of positives to take from Tuesday night’s Bristol Street Motors Trophy tie against Cheltenham, despite the 2-1 defeat.
After Newport had taken a first-half lead through Kieron Evans, the game swung in the visitors’ favour after young ‘keeper Jacob Carney was shown a red card for a foul on the edge of the area two minutes from the interval.
Newport had rung the changes for the game with a host of players making their first starts for the club after a busy summer in the transfer market, including recent loan signings Jamie Miley, Kieron Evans and Noah Mawene.
“A lot of the lads out there were playing for the first time,’’ explained Williams. “Yes, it’s disappointing to lose the game, but I think there were plenty of positives to take from the defeat.
“I thought we played some very good stuff in the first 35 minutes, really positive, but the red card changed things. We had the team talk ready for half-time and then that happens. It was a collective mistake because we lost out on a second ball from a set play, which wasn’t good enough.
“It certainly changed our intentions going into half-time and we had to change things and re-group. But I thought we showed good character and resilience in the second half, which was really pleasing.
“But we will learn from it. They are a good group of lads in a good environment that is challenging. They have a growth mindset and want to learn and we will take that into Saturday’s game against Port Vale.’’