Newport County’s League Two play-off hopes were dealt a blow as they were comfortably beaten 4-2 by Grimsby Town at Blundell Park.
It has been a tough start to the week for the Exiles with the club being forced to apologise for inappropriate chants towards Bradford City manager Stuart McCall.
And goals from Bradley Garmston, Josh Benson, James Hanson and Max Wright were enough to sink the Exiles. All the visitors could muster was two goals from Jordan Green and Padraig Amond, leaving Newport languishing in 16th place, 12 points off the play-off places.
Flynn made one change from Saturday’s 2-1 win over Bradford City with George Nurse replacing Ryan Haynes while Josh Sheehan captained the side.
Newport made the worst possible start as they conceded a goal in the first minute of the game. Exiles goalkeeper Tom King spilled an ambitious shot from Charles Vernon allowing Garmston to fire in the rebound.
But falling behind did nothing to dent the confidence of the Newport players and they were soon level when Green tapped in after being found unmarked on the far post.
The hosts came close to retaking the lead when Benson smashed a shot against the bar from the edge of the area.
Grimsby began to get on top as they pressurised the Newport defence with long balls into the box.
And the Exiles found themselves behind for the second time when Benson curled in a free-kick from just outside the box meaning they trailed 2-1 at half-time.
Newport began the second-half on the back foot and fell further behind when Hanson tapped the ball into the back of the net after an initial shot by James Tilley was deflected into his path by King.
But to their credit, County refused to throw in the towel and battled back into the game when Amond smashed the ball into the back of the net.
However, Grimsby finally put the result beyond any doubt when Wright’s deflected effort found the back of the net to make it 4-2.
