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.”
No Neymar return until 2025, says Al-Hilal boss Jesus
Neymar will not return from his anterior cruciate ligament injury until January 2025 at the earliest, Al-Hilal boss Jorge Jesus has warned.
Neymar left Paris Saint-Germain for Al-Hilal in a €90million deal in August 2023, becoming one of the faces of the Saudi Pro League's major recruitment drive.
However, he only played five matches for the club before rupturing his ACL while on international duty with Brazil last October.
The 32-year-old subsequently missed the remainder of the season as well as the Selecao's ill-fated Copa America campaign, and he remains some way away from a return.
Neymar was removed from Al-Hilal's Saudi Pro League squad in September, with the 19-time champions only able to register a maximum of eight foreign players for the first half of the season.
Reports had suggested Neymar was close to a return after Al-Hilal posted footage of him training on social media, but Jesus says Brazil's all-time leading scorer must wait until the halfway point of the campaign before being considered.
"Neymar is an important player for Al Hilal and the league in general," Jesus told reporters on Tuesday.
"I can't, however, specify a date as to when he will return, but we will look at the situation in January."
With no restrictions on foreign players featuring in the AFC Champions League, Neymar could, in theory, play in that competition if he returns to fitness before January.
Al-Bukayriyah 0-1 Al-Hilal: Leonardo sends defending King's Cup champions through
Marcos Leonardo's first-half penalty was enough to book Al-Hilal a spot in the King's Cup round of 16 with a 1-0 win over Al-Bukayriyah.
The defending champions dominated from the start, with Abdullah Al Hamddan and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic both seeing early efforts saved by Dziugas Bartkus.
Al Hamddan then won the game-winning spot-kick in the 40th minute, being brought down in the box by Ibrahim Al Sunaytan, and Leonardo made no mistake from 12 yards.
Al-Hilal kept pushing for another goal, with substitutes Renan Lodi and Aleksandar Mitrovic both testing Bartkus in the second half, but they could not add to the scoreline.
Neymar, who is gearing up for his return to action after a year on the sidelines, was not involved for Al-Hilal, who lead the way in the Saudi Pro League.
Data Debrief: Leonardo proves the difference
Al-Hilal were dominant in the first half, completely overwhelming their opponents as they had 12 of their 17 shots before the break, getting five of those on target.
But across the 90 minutes, it was Leonardo who was the standout, having the second-most shots (three) and accumulating 0.82 expected goals (xG).
His only shot on target may have been the winning penalty, but he proved a handful as he also had the most touches in the opposition box (10).
Al-Bukayriyah 0-1 Al-Hilal: Leonardo sends defending King Cup champions through
Marcos Leonardo's first-half penalty was enough to book Al-Hilal a spot in the King Cup round of 16 with a 1-0 win over Al-Bukayriyah.
The defending champions dominated from the start, with Abdullah Al Hamddan and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic both seeing early efforts saved by Dziugas Bartkus.
Al Hamddan then won the game-winning spot-kick in the 40th minute, being brought down in the box by Ibrahim Al Sunaytan, and Leonardo made no mistake from 12 yards.
Al-Hilal kept pushing for another goal, with substitutes Renan Lodi and Aleksandar Mitrovic both testing Bartkus in the second half, but they could not add to the scoreline.
Neymar, who is gearing up for his return to action after a year on the sidelines, was not involved for Al-Hilal, who lead the way in the Saudi Pro League.
Data Debrief: Leonardo proves the difference
Al-Hilal were dominant in the first half, completely overwhelming their opponents as they had 12 of their 17 shots before the break, getting five of those on target.
But across the 90 minutes, it was Leonardo who was the standout, having the second-most shots (three) and accumulating 0.82 expected goals (xG).
His only shot on target may have been the winning penalty, but he proved a handful as he also had the most touches in the opposition box (10).
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