Newport County 3 Harrogate Town 0: Sulphurites 'deserved to lose' after failing to perform in 'both boxes'

The Sulphurites enjoyed almost 60 percent of possession at Rodney Parade and managed 20 shots at goal over the course of the 90 minutes, seven of which were on target.

But they conspired to concede three times from corners on their way to a 3-0 loss to the Exiles, while also looking “blunt” when it mattered in front of the home goal.

Thus, Town’s manager conceded that he could not really have any complaints with the final score-line.

"The lads are hurting in the changing room, but it’s not a complicated game,” Weaver said. “We deserved to lose because we didn’t nail key moments in our box, like we have been doing.

"We’ve probably had more balls into the opposition box than we have in three months in total, but in both boxes we haven’t done enough and therefore Newport, by scoring three from set-plays have done more and deserved the win.

"The first half wasn’t a half without control on the ball and possession. We had moments, we’ve had a bucket-load of opportunities to benefit in the attacking third, but unfortunately, on the day, we were blunt.

“I knew that there would be a reaction from Newport the other night, and a passionate response. When their backs are against the wall, they come out fighting and they fought for every ball.

"I don’t deny that our lads kept on going, but the intensity in those big moments was short, and it has cost us.”

Newport headed into Saturday’s fixture fresh off the back of a 5-0 humbling by Accrington Stanley in midweek and with the worst defensive record in League Two.

Town, by contrast had taken seven points from the last nine on offer and kept clean-sheets in each of their last two matches.

Indeed, victory would have seen them pull level on points with their hosts, but they were left with plenty of work to do after falling behind with just two minutes gone when Cameron Evans nodded home Shane McLoughlin’s left-wing corner at the near post.

Things got even worse for the Sulphurites in the 15th-minute, Courtney Baker-Richardson applying the final touch to another corner-kick delivery, this time from the opposite side of the pitch.

Town midfielder Bryn Morris did hit the cross-bar against his former club early in the second period, but the game was ended as a contest just after the hour mark.

Warren Burrell made a complete mess of clearing his lines at the second phase of another corner, heading the ball back into a dangerous area for James Clarke to smash into the roof of the net from about a yard out.

On the goals that his side conceded, Weaver said: “We travelled down on Friday, booked a training venue and went through all of their routines, went through each individual’s role.

"I’ve looked back at the goals and people go away from their roles. We vacate the near-post area [for the first goal] – which was an incorrect decision.

"We stipulated that role. It wasn’t carried out and it left a gap. Someone has got into that gap and got ahead of their marker and put it in the goal.

"The second one was similar, we just got outmuscled, which is disappointing when we are a bigger, stronger team now and pride ourselves on defending from corners and set-pieces very well. But, Saturday was a day where, defensively, we haven’t turned up for set-pieces.”

Saturday’s defeat sees Harrogate drop one place to 21st in the League Two standings, with the gap between them and the relegation zone trimmed slightly to 10 points.