New Forest Green manager Troy Deeney was in no doubt that the red card shown to Callum Jones six minutes after half-time was the key moment as his side let a 2-0 lead slip to lose 4-2 at Newport.
A second-minute own goal from County captain Ryan Delaney – diverting in Kyle McAllister’s free-kick – and a Matty Stevens strike put Rovers in charge at the break.
But Jones’ second yellow, for chopping down Lewis Payne, allowed the hosts back into the contest and they took full advantage with three goals in nine minutes.
Will Evans scored a quickfire double to level before Payne volleyed in a superb third to complete the turnaround after 69 minutes.
Delaney then scored at the right end five minutes from time to make sure of the victory for the Welsh side.
“We’ve got to be a bit more street-smart,” said Deeney.
“Callum’s one he gets sent off for is our first one for a tackle – the rest are for kicking the ball away and being mouthy.
“I don’t want this to sound like a negative. I’d defy anyone to tell me a game where we’ve played better for 55 minutes.
“Then we let ourselves down and we’re the ones who made the problems, so we need to fix it.
“When we get 2-0 up we panic. Callum was running with him and we’re shouting to him ‘don’t slide in’ but he did, and you know he’s off.
“We were flustered after that. At 2-2 you think ‘right, let’s take a point’ and the guy shanks it into the top corner.
“It showed me a lot about the character of the players – the ones you can rely on and the ones that go hiding.”
County boss Graham Coughlan felt his switch from 3-5-2 to match the visitors’ 4-3-3 just before half-time was more important than the sending-off.
“We were in the ascendency before the red card so I’m not 100 per cent sure that was the gamechanger,” said the Irishman.
“I think the turnaround was when we changed shape and got to grips with them.
“They were brave, they played three front men and they bullied us for the first half an hour.
“It caught us by surprise how direct they were. We didn’t deal with it. But we changed shape, and the game was probably won and lost in that moment.
“The crowd let us hear what they thought at half-time, which I thought was fair. But they got behind us in the second half and pushed us on.
“We’ll take the positives, we’ll take the three points and the character and resilience we showed what excellent.”
Sheffield United go top of Championship with draw despite Ahmedhodzic red
Sheffield United went top of the Championship following their 2-2 draw away to Coventry City despite twice surrendering the lead.
Chris Wilder's side are one point ahead of second-placed Sunderland ahead of Saturday's other matches although, after Tyrese Campbell put them one up after 13 minutes, they would have been hoping for a bigger lead.
Coventry forward Norman Bassette equalised nine minutes later, but Jesurun Rak-Sakyi had the visitors back in front on 34 minutes, having been set up by former Coventry man Gustavo Hamer.
Then came the game-defining incident, with Anel Ahmedhodzic sent off in the 44th minute after grabbing Bassette by his neck and throwing him to the ground. Tempers flared into half-time, but it was the home side who piled on the pressure in the second half.
The managerless Sky Blues got their reward 10 minutes from time through Bobby Thomas, meaning that they have now come back from losing positions to draw in back-to-back matches. They sit 16th in the table.
Elsewhere, Burnley went third after their second straight 1-0 victory as they beat Bristol City on the road. Jaidon Anthony scored the only goal of the game, although the home side created plenty of pressure and saw a penalty claim denied in the second half.
Scott Parker's side, nevertheless, kept their fourth clean sheet in five to get themselves back in the hunt for the top two.
Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff City shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough that does neither side many favours in their aim to climb clear of the relegation scrap.
Both goals came within two first-half minutes, with Ollie Tanner getting the visitors ahead from a Callum Robinson rebound in the 34th minute. The lead didn't last long though, with Di'Shon Bernard on hand to scramble home and restore parity almost straight away.
The result leaves Wednesday in 14th, four points above the bottom three, while Cardiff are 19th and just a point above third-bottom Luton Town.
Leicester City 1-2 Chelsea: Jackson and Fernandez mark a happy return for Maresca
Chelsea came through a nervy finish to beat Leicester City 2-1 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Enzo Maresca guided Leicester to promotion last season before switching allegiance to Chelsea, who returned to winning ways after two successive draws in the Premier League.
Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez were on the scoresheet for the Blues as Jordan Ayew’s stoppage-time penalty proved only to be a consolation for the hosts.
The visitors dominated early on and Jackson’s brilliant outside-of-the-foot finish past Mads Hermansen gave them the lead in the 15th minute.
Jackson was involved in Chelsea’s second, too, as his header was saved by Hermansen, only for Fernandez to nod home the rebound in the 75th minute.
Ayew made no mistake from the spot to set up a grandstand finale, but third-place Chelsea held firm to move to within a point of Manchester City, prior to the reigning Premier League champions’ clash with Tottenham later on Saturday, while Leicester dropped down to 16th.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
