Newport manager Graham Coughlan admitted the frantic finale at Rodney Parade summed up his side’s season as they threw away two points to draw 2-2 with Crewe.
Striker Omar Bogle thought he had bundled in the winner in the first minute of time added on after cancelling out Rio Adebisi’s stunning opener with a penalty 13 minutes from time.
But County were caught napping at the other end in the 93rd minute and allowed Lachlan Brook to earn Crewe a deserved share of the spoils.
“Omar has been very good for us. He should have been on a winning team today,” said Coughlan, who replaced James Rowberry in October with the Exiles only two points above the relegation zone.
“Defensively, we conceded two sloppy goals. It was a real disappointment, the manner in which we conceded the goals. But that’s been there all season.
“We weren’t great, we looked a little bit flat, and it was a typical end-of-season performance.
“The same mistakes are happening too often, so that needs sorting out. Today summed up our season – moments of madness, moments of brilliance, sloppiness.
“Since we’ve come in, we’ve done brilliant to climb the table and put that amount of points on the board. I think we’ve done exceptionally well to dig ourselves out of a bit of a mess that we found ourselves in.”
Coughlan’s men end the season in 15th place on 57 points – 14 clear of the bottom two and with plenty to build on for next season.
“I know what needs fixing and it’s my job to get that done over the summer,” he said.
“I’m hopeful of getting one or two (players) in, and one or two will leave, but I don’t expect wholesale changes.”
Crewe finish one point and two places better off than their final-day hosts and boss Lee Bell is also encouraged as he looks ahead to August.
“It was a good end-of-season game. I thought we were unlucky – we could have scored another couple,” said Bell, who took over from Alex Morris in November.
“But it was a good response from a good bunch of players with good character.
“That’s what they’ve done a lot since I’ve been in charge, and were unlucky not to get three points to take us up another couple of places.
“We were able to get some younger players onto the pitch, which we’ve done a lot in the past few weeks, and that will give them more experience for next season.
“There’s plenty to build on, particularly in the last six weeks. We’re optimistic for next year, but we know we’ve got to work hard to get the right players in.”
Clarke hails solid Scotland as Croatia win boosts Nations League survival hopes
Steve Clarke credited Scotland's defensive resilience after they boosted their hopes of remaining in the top tier of the Nations League by beating Croatia 1-0 at Hampden Park.
John McGinn came off the bench to score the all-important goal as Scotland took advantage of Petar Sucic's sending-off to claim their first win of the 2024-25 Nations League campaign.
The result – coupled with Poland's crushing 5-1 defeat in Portugal – means Scotland will stave off automatic relegation to League B if they win in Warsaw on Monday.
While Clarke felt Scotland could have done more with the ball, he was impressed both with their off-the-ball work and with the impact of super sub McGinn.
"My first thoughts when I came off the pitch were that we could play better," Clarke said.
"We could be more clinical when we get to the final third of the pitch. The sending off changed the game, but we were due a little break.
"This is a group of players that want to be successful, want to do well for their country.
"That's another clean sheet, two in a row. If you don't concede goals, you always have a chance to win the game.
"It was nice to get John on the pitch and I thought his finish was really good because it wasn't easy. It was nice to be able to look at the bench behind and know we had people who could come on and affect the game. It's nice when we get everybody fit and available."
The victory was Scotland's first in a competitive match since September 2023, when they beat Cyprus 3-0 in Euro 2024 qualifying.
They had gone 10 games without a competitive victory since then, drawing four and losing six, including a return of just one point from three outings at Euro 2024.
Denmark 1-2 Spain: Oyarzabal and Perez on target as Roja secure top spot
Spain secured top spot in Group A4 of the Nations League with one match to spare after defeating Denmark 2-1 in Copenhagen.
Mikel Oyarzabal and Ayoze Perez were on the scoresheet as the unbeaten Roja made it four wins and a draw to pull six points clear of the second-placed Danes.
Luis de la Fuente's side capitalised on a poor pass from Denmark centre-back Jannik Vestergaard to open the scoring as Oyarzabal latched on to a ball from Perez and finished past Kasper Schmeichel in the 15th minute.
Villarreal forward Perez then doubled the visitors' lead in the 58th minute after Dani Olmo turned provider with a defence-splitting pass.
The hosts reduced the deficit with six minutes of regulation time left, as Fabian Ruiz's back pass to goalkeeper David Raya was intercepted by Gustav Isaksen, who had been denied by the woodwork moments earlier, and he slotted into an open goal to set up a tense ending.
But the Spaniards held on for the win and will now face Switzerland in their final group game on Monday, before taking part in the quarter-finals, scheduled for March.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
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