Newport County boss Michael Flynn didn’t hide his disappointment after watching his side dominate possession, yet fail to create enough chances to make the most of playing on the pristine surface at Cardiff City Stadium.
The second defeat of the week was yet another dent to their promotion hopes and if they are going to get anywhere in the final 10 games they must find a way to score more goals.
A dozen in their past 13 games is not good enough to take them up.
When they first met Leyton Orient on December 12 they were seemingly on course for automatic promotion. They lost 2-1 in London and it took them another 56 days to win again.
After a second defeat to a team they managed to knock out of the FA Cup they now face a mad scramble over the next six weeks to get into the play-offs.
Flynn has chopped and changed his front runners, and alternated them in the games, but they haven’t delivered for him. By the time they return from the international break, the service into them needs to have greatly improved and their touch in front of goal must have sharpened.
“We dominated the ball, it was just frustrating that we didn’t do enough with it. The decision-making in the final third was mind-blowing,” said Flynn, who saw new signing Joe Ledley make his debut on the bench.
“I’m really frustrated. Our best source of scoring was from Mickey Demetriou in the second half and it’s quite worrying when your centre-back is the most creative player you have out there.”
Nicky Maynard went close in the 16th minute, and then Joss Labadie flicked a header from a free-kick onto the post, but that was as good as it got for the home side.
Orient didn’t create many more chances, but struck just after the hour mark to clinch the double.
Dan Kemp caused the problems down the left flank as he cut into the box and fired in a wicked, low cross. There was a crowd of players in front of goal and at the far post Conor Wilkinson had the simple task of tapping the ball home.
The Irishman’s delight at breaking the deadlock then turned to despair when referee Samuel Barrott saw that his linesman, Andrew Laver, had flagged for offside. He went over to consult with him, but then pointed to the centre circle to confirm the goal for Wilkinson, who spent a loan spell at Newport in 2016.
There was delight for Orient, and no complaint from Flynn about the validity of the goal. His concerns are centred on his side’s lack of creativity.
Newport County: Townsend, Demetriou, Dolan (Ledley 57), Farquharson, Shephard, Labadie (ca), Sheehan, Bennett (Ellison 67), Lewis (Telford 67), Maynard (Gamlin 67), Scrimshaw (Taylor 57), Subs Unused: King, Amond.
Leyton Orient: Vigouroux, Widdowson, Happe, Akinola, Turley, Cisse (Kyprianou 45), McAnuff, Clay, Kemp, Wilkinson, Johnson. Subs not used: Sargeant, Ling, Coulson, Sweeney, Dayton, Dennis.
Referee: Samuel Barrott.
