Appleton hails Oxford resolve

Michael Appleton saluted Oxford's resolve as they hung on with 10 men for 35 minutes to beat Newport 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium.

Michael Collins' 41st-minute free-kick from long range ended up winning the match, and ending County's seven-game unbeaten run. The free-kick eluded everyone, with goalkeeper Joe Day seeing it fly past him as he expected someone to get a touch. The U's had to defend for their lives in the second half to earn only a second league win of the season, after Tyrone Barnett was shown the red card in the 55th minute, following a second yellow card for a late challenge on Darren Jones. Card-happy referee Darren Sheldrake, who has now sent off five players in just seven games this season, went on to produce nine yellows. And despite getting the win, Appleton was very unhappy with the officials over the challenge that brought Barnett his red card. He said: "We found ourselves in a position we should never have been in. "Whether it was one or both of the officials involved in the incident, I think they will be embarrassed when they see it again. "It was a diabolical decision and it's ruined a good game of football. "I've watched it five or six times now, and I've never seen anything like it in all my time in football. "I'm angry that they (the officials) have nearly taken something away from us that we've worked so hard on all week. "The performance shows the players can dig in when they need to and they've shown great resolve. "It was a different side to us today. The concentration and the mental resolve were so strong today it was going to take something special to take it away from us. "We should have been three or four goals out of sight at half-time. "In the first half it was a fantastic performance from us. We had numerous opportunities. We only got the one goal, but fortunately we were able to hold onto it." Oxford, who were also indebted to returning keeper Ryan Clarke for some fine saves, moved out of the bottom two, up to 20th place. Newport manager Justin Edinburgh was very disappointed to see County's seven-game undefeated run ended. He said: "To lose to a flukey goal like we did, because that's what it was, and to lose our unbeaten run, is disappointing. "I thought we had enough possession to have got something from the match, but we probably should have done a bit more with it in the final third. "There was nothing in the game. It was a very open game, competed well by both teams, and we were always looking to be positive. "It was not like we were overrun, we just didn't have enough guile to break them down. "I wouldn't want to criticise any of my players, because they gave it everything and we've gone down fighting." On Barnett's red card, Edinburgh said: "The ref's made a big decision on it, but it was the right one." Newport felt they should have had a penalty in the dying minutes when substitute Chris Zebroski appeared to be knocked to the ground by Tom Newey, but the ref waved play on. "Had that been anywhere else on the pitch, he'd have given a free-kick," he said. Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts