Newport boss Christian Fuchs rages at his side’s second-half showing

Exiles boss Christian Fuchs was left deeply frustrated by his side’s “unacceptable” second-half performance, with the 2-0 home defeat to relegation rivals Crawley Town leaving them just one point above the relegation zone.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” said the Austrian. “I thought we were in the game in the first half, but the second half is something that we definitely need to look over again because this was not a team that was actually out there fighting.

“We had too many players that maybe were too comfortable in the first half and then just didn’t perform to the standard we expect them to.

“Equally, when we went 2-0 down, with the amount of chances we created we still could have got a point from the game. It’s very disappointing. The manner that we approached the second half is just not the team that I want to see out on the pitch.

“It definitely hurts. The boys have been brilliant over the last couple of weeks and a second half like this is just unacceptable.”

New Crawley manager Colin Kazim-Richards hailed a “massive” three points for his side as a second-half brace from Harry McKirdy secured the win at relegation rivals Newport.

McKirdy, a former County loanee, punished his former club with two close-range finishes in the 57th and 59th minutes to settle a tight contest and move Crawley up to 20th in the League Two table.

Six-pointer

Kazim-Richards, who now has two wins from two games in charge, has got the Sussex side four points above the bottom two with five games left to play, but he is adamant there is more work to do.

“It’s a nice feeling,” said the former Turkey international.

“We move. That three points is massive because this was a six-pointer and we’ve brought a couple of other people down into the fight as well. That’s great, but all we can worry about is ourselves and all we can control is the games that we play. That’s all we’re focused on.

“The job’s not done, but this is a couple of steps towards the job (being done). It’s game by game. We executed the plan very well and I’m delighted, but we have to move on very quickly because we have a game on Monday.”

Kazim-Richards praised the performance of McKirdy, who helped County reach the League Two play-off final in 2019.

“It’s always nice to score against your old club,” he added. “So, for him, it’s a great day. He’s a nightmare to play against. He’s not the biggest, but his heart is massive and he’ll just keep going and going and he gets in the right areas and affects the game all the time.”