Newport 1-0 Mansfield: Surprise defeat for Stags

Mansfield manager Adam Murray criticised his team's "lack of quality" after a surprise 1-0 defeat at Newport in Sky Bet League Two.

Promotion-chasing Mansfield struggled on an "horrendous" pitch and conceded a disputed late winner.

Scott Boden's 86th-minute goal snatched a dramatic win for Newport as he latched onto Darren Jones' deflected long-range effort before turning and firing home his fifth goal in four games.

The win lifted County another place from the relegation zone while defeat saw Mansfield drop out of the play-offplaces.

Murray said: "It was definitely offside but it took a deflection off someone so I'm not 100 per cent sure. But we didn't deserve anything out of that game.

"It was a flat performance and an awful game. There was no football played whatsoever and a bad day at the office. We didn't get any rhythm and we lacked quality.

"It's disappointing but I'm writing a line under it because we haven't got time to dwell on it - we've got to move onto the next one.

"The league is very tight and we'll go again. We've lost this one and we'll move on straight away. The league is too tight to be spending time going over a loss."

Both teams arrived at Rodney Parade in good form after just one defeat in their last six. But both struggled with the pitch that was covered with 40 tons of sand in midweek to deal with the demands of hosting both football and rugby union matches.

Murray added: "We know it was going to be tough. The pitch is horrendous. I understand that there's only so much you can do but you couldn't play football on it. The ball was bobbling everywhere and it must have been a horrible spectacle."

Newport came to terms with the surface quickest and twice went close in the first half through Conor Wilkinson and Mark Byrne.

Mansfield grew into the game and top scorer Matt Green struck the post when he shot from the edge of the box.

Ryan Tafazolli then saw his headed effort ruled out for offside shortly after the break.

But Newport dominated the second half as Medy Elito had an effort cleared off the line before Boden struck late on.

Exiles manager Warren Feeney said: "It was a massive result for us.

"Mansfield have been on a great run but I believe in our players and we do what we're good at.

"Good teams win 1-0 and when I saw the pitch, I suspected there would only be a goal in it.

"We kept plugging away and we deserved the win after creating the better chances

"We won't dwell on the decision for the goal. We've had plenty of decisions go against us, that's football. I only care about the three points."