STANLEY boss John Coleman was gutted his side’s amazing unbeaten run ended ‘with a whimper’ at Rodney Parade.

The Reds had gone 15 games without defeat to push them into play-off contention as they headed to South Wales to face a Newport side still in the League Two relegation mire.

But an inspired performance from County keeper Joe Day, and a stroke of luck that allowed Ryan Bird to net the winner from close range, saw them on the wrong side of a result for the first time since February 11.

Coleman said afterwards: “I was disappointed with the way it came to an end.

“We’ve fought valiantly for 15 games to keep that going but after they scored I thought we went out with a whimper.

“We didn’t threaten their goal and it’s frustrating because they haven’t had to do much to win the game.”

The result, coupled with Hartlepool’s defeat at home to Barnet, saw Newport move out of the bottom two, while Stanley are now five points off the play-offs with just two games remaining.

But Coleman insisted his side were in control until they conceded and should have taken at least a point.

He added: “You could say that they had more to play for, but they didn’t because we’ve got the play-offs to play for.

“I think up to Newport scoring we were by far the better team and we made the better chances. Their keeper made three glorious saves.

“They had five minutes of hurry-scurry at the start and then we’ve controlled the game – a perfect away performance.

“We got a bit deflated when the keeper made that unbelievable save off Noor (Husin) a couple of minutes into the second half. Then we lost our way a bit, and they didn’t really gain their way, they just scored a scrappy goal and we’re disappointed with the way we’ve defended.

“It could have been stopped at source and one bounce in the box has gone for them, while plenty of bounces in the box didn’t go for us today.

“I’ve been saying all along on this run that luck plays a big part and we didn’t really have any luck.

“But you’ve got to take your hat off to them because once they scored they defended for their lives and saw the game out comfortably.”

In the build-up Coleman had played down the role the terrible surface at Rodney Parade would play in the contest.

But after the final whistle he admitted it had been a factor.

“We started passing it on a very, very difficult surface,” he said.

“We’ve tried to make light of it this week, but it is virtually impossible to play a passing game on it.

“But we did our best and we created some opportunities in the first half.

“We started brightly in the second half, but then we lost our way. Give them credit, but the worst we should have come off with is a 0-0.”