Hayden Mullins gave his initial reaction to Newport County’s exit in the Jersey Mike’s Subs Trophy after a 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace U21’s.
“I thought we were pretty flat first half. We conceded a really soft goal for us, a corner, first and second and drops down late, they finish it inside the box.
“I thought we looked a bit of a threat going forward when we got the ball into our striking areas and worked off of the strikers.
“I think we didn't start the game anywhere near as aggressive as we wanted to. In the second half we tried to address it, made a couple of changes and looked better in the second half, a bit more of a threat, which was good.
“Disappointing with the second goal to concede and to ultimately lose the game.”
The slow start to the game for County was an early worry for Mullins after conceding in the 10th minute to put County behind and on the back foot.
“Obviously one we had not planned for, and we didn't want to go behind in the game. We planned to be aggressive and try and hit them.
“Credit to them, they came and they nicked the goal from the corner. It was a goal that definitely we should have been better with, set pieces, and to concede a corner we were really disappointed.
“To exit the competition, yeah, it's tough and it's one we're going to have to take on the chin.”
At the break, Mullins made two changes in midfield which seemed to energise the team and help lead to the equaliser.
“Yeah, I think that's what the boys were pushing for and they had a couple of chances either side of their goal as well. Their second goal is something that we could have potentially done better with.
“Tonight wasn't our night and it was one that we'll have to take a lot of learning from and one we're going to have to use going forward, we're going to have to look at and really try and galvanise ourselves in these moments.
“Make sure we look after what happened today and hopefully it doesn't happen again.”
James Crole made first start this season after returning from injury and managed to top his performance with a goal and Mullins believes this is down to his hard off the pitch.
“Yeah, very pleased. I think James has worked really hard. He worked extremely hard to get back into good shape to really attack and give himself an opportunity to get into the team.
“I think he's come in and done really well tonight. It was really good to see him come on Friday in the result against Chesterfield.
“Yeah, pleasing for him to get on the scoresheet today, which was really good for him.
“A personal one for himself, but like I say, today we've turned up and we've wanted to try and win and progress in the competition, but we've obviously ended up getting beat and we're bitterly disappointed with that.
“But James, I'm sure, will be happy with what he's done tonight and equally as a club, we share that with him, but we've come out on the wrong side of the result tonight and we'd be eager to put it right on Saturday.”
More quotes from the interview are included in the video below 👇