Manager Graham Coughlan took the blame for Newport’s 2-0 League Two defeat at Swindon.
Dan Kemp and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy were on target as Swindon returned to winning ways.
Coughlan said: “I think that this is a team sport and to just stand here and blame players is not right.
“I will not accept that my players are to blame for the goal – if anyone is to blame for the first goal.
“I have a golden rule not to blame the players, I picked them, I selected them, so it is on my head if things happen.
“For someone to come to me and blame it on one individual, that does not help.
“That is not how Newport County works and that is not how we are going to be addressing things.
“You are going to get a goal from class and quality and that is what we have got and that is where we are and we just have to keep believing and keep fighting.
“But this has happened a few times this season where we are getting beaten when we were the better team.
“We have definitely been worth something today and we have come away with nothing.”
It took the hosts just eight minutes to find the back of the net as Charlie Austin played a perfect through ball for Kemp, who beat goalkeeper Jonny Maxted to the ball, took it around the goalkeeper and slotted it into the net.
Poor play on the ball from Swindon saw Newport with a spare player in attack, Omar Bogle looked to take a shot on himself from the edge of the area, but Robins stopper Murphy Mahoney tipped his fierce effort over the crossbar.
Swindon almost added a second when Kemp played Jake Young through on goal, but with George McEachran square, he decided to go it alone and tried to send a low shot into the corner, only for Maxted to flick the ball round the post.
With Newport searching for an equaliser, Swindon countered quickly and Saidou Khan’s powerful drive proved to be too hot to handle for Maxted and Hepburn-Murphy tapped home the rebound.
Michael Flynn was very pleased with how his side managed to respond to a disappointing first half and put in a much-improved performance after the break.
He said: “In the second half I thought we were excellent. We dealt with their direct play, kept a clean sheet, and should have scored more goals.
“In the first half I thought we were very sloppy. We gave away too many balls without any real pressure on us and we let them in a few times through our poor play.
“But the second half was a lot more professional from us and a lot more pleasing.
“I said at half-time that we were going to let them back in if we were not careful. We kind of played into their hands and gave them a bit of a lift.
“The one chance just before half-time, you can’t give Omar Bogle that much space.
“We had some words at half-time, but they responded excellently and I am really proud of the players.
“We stepped up everything in the second half – our decision making and concentration on the pass.
“We played some unbelievable football, honestly, I am really enjoying watching us at the moment.
“We are a good team, even in the Crewe game we gave that one away and if we took our chances at Bradford then we would have won the game.
“Today I still thought we should have scored more goals, but it was a pleasing performance and we can still improve.”
Verona 0-5 Inter: Five-star visitors go top of Serie A
Inter hammered lowly Verona 5-0 away from home on Saturday to move top of the Serie A table, with all five goals coming in the first half.
The hosts could easily have taken the lead through Casper Tengstedt just six minutes in as he struck the post after causing chaos in the box, but Inter sparked to life after that.
Joaquin Correa rattled the crossbar moments later, and then opened the scoring after 17 minutes, finishing off a lovely team move by chipping Lorenzo Montipo.
Having set up the opener, Marcus Thuram added a quick-fire double; twice in three minutes, he took the goalkeeper out of the game with clever play before picking out the back of the net.
Substitute Stefan de Vrij fired their fourth past Montipo before Yann Bisseck managed to pick out the top corner despite initially tripping over the ball in the 41st minute.
The second half was a subdued affair, though Correa almost scored another, but instead smacked the crossbar for a second time.
Inter leapfrogged Napoli, who do not play until Sunday, as they moved into first with 28 points. Verona are 14th on 12 points.
Data Debrief: Full-throttle first half
It was a pretty much perfect first half from Simone Inzaghi's side, and it gave the manager a chance to rest some key players with a Champions League tie ahead of them in midweek.
Inter scored five goals in the first half of an away league game for only the second time in their history in Serie A - after the 5-1 score against Sampdoria in the first 45 minutes of play back in March 1964.
The visitors scored with all five of their shots on target in the first period and outperformed their 2.79 expected goals (xG) by some margin.
Correa has scored in a Serie A game 756 days after his last goal in the top-flight, on 29th October 2022, against Sampdoria, at Meazza. Meanwhile, all three of his away goals have come against Verona at Bentegodi.
Chelsea not focused on Liverpool and Man City, insists Jackson after Leicester win
Chelsea are not getting carried away by talk of a title challenge following their 2-1 win over Leicester City, according to striker Nicolas Jackson.
Jackson netted his seventh Premier League goal of the season and was joined on the scoresheet by Enzo Fernandez on Saturday, as Enzo Maresca got one over on his former club at the King Power Stadium.
The result lifted the Blues to 22 points in third, just one adrift of champions Manchester City in second and six behind leaders Liverpool.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Jackson said: "We know the months of November and December have a lot of games, so we just try to recover for the next one and go again.
"I saw the danger, then the ball came to Enzo, he gave it to me and he finished. I'm just working in every game to try to help the team win."
Asked if Chelsea were now thinking of themselves as title challengers, he added: "No, we don't look at the teams in front of us, we just try to win every game."
Five of Jackson's goals this season have come on the road, the most of any player in the Premier League.
Since the start of May, only Erling Haaland (18) has bettered Jackson's 11 goals in the competition overall.
Leicester got a stoppage-time consolation through Jordan Ayew's penalty, though they earlier felt aggrieved not to be awarded a spot-kick when Stephy Mavididi was seemingly felled by Wesley Fofana in the 85th minute.
Boss Steve Cooper lamented that call, saying: "We've had some terrible luck with this referee. That continued today.
"There's also the game to talk about. Tough first half in terms of Chelsea territory and dominance with the ball. We gave away a poor goal. It should have been 0-0.
"Defensively we were generally okay. We need to be showing courage and belief. If we do that we can create chances and be a threat.
"The big moment is the first penalty not given, it's clear what happened there. The second one was offside [before VAR] and you see how onside he was.
"That was the story of the officials' game. You can speak to them after 30 minutes. I'm not sure if I will or won't."
'It's an honour' - Flick delighted by Messi's Barcelona praise
Hansi Flick says it is an "honour" to hear Lionel Messi praise Barcelona's start to the season.
Flick took over as Barcelona head coach in May, with the club making an impressive start to LaLiga, as they sit top on 33 points after 13 matches.
They have won 11 of their games, losing the other two, while they are sixth in the Champions League table, just three points behind leaders Liverpool.
Messi, who spent 17 years at Barcelona before leaving to join Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, recently described Flick's team as "spectacular", in particular lauding his use of young players in the team.
The German has not shied away from using academy players during his time at Barcelona so far, with Lamine Yamal the standout of the bunch after he carried last season's form into this campaign.
Yamal is the only player across Europe's big five leagues to complete 25+ dribbles (34), create 25+ chances (26), have 25+ shots (39), score 5+ goals (five) and provide 5+ assists (seven).
When asked how he felt about Messi's comments, Flick was delighted.
"It's an honour to hear the best player in history say that he likes this Barca," he told reporters.
"He follows the team closely, he has his heart set on this club, that means a lot to the youngsters and to the team."
Barcelona return to LaLiga action when they travel to Celta Vigo on Saturday, looking to extend their lead at the top of the league.
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