Newport Manager James Rowberry has urged his side to 'defend better' after his side drew 3-3 to Oldham Athletic on Saturday.

Whilst the six-goal thriller would have been a great game for the neutral, The Exiles missed out on a valuable three points to help keep themselves at pace with the contenders for the top three.

The Latics pulled the game back to lead 3-2 against Rowberry's side despite being a man down, although Mickey Demetriou struck late to salvage a point for Newport.

In an interview with Newport County's media team yesterday, Rowberry said: "I'm disappointed. We didn't defend well enough today, that's the bottom line of it.

"We've conceded three goals at home, scored three, had however many shots on goal, but ultimately we haven't defended well enough today.

"We've got to stop crosses better, we've got to defend balls in our box better, we've got to make sure that our clearances are spot on because (otherwise) teams will capitalise on it.

"I knew this would be a tough game. I knew it would be extremely, extremely hard. A John Sheridan team is extremely hard to play against and they proved that."

Newport dominated the game - 63 percent possession and 37 shots to Oldham's 14 - but they couldn't convert the the number of chances created, however, xG had Newport at 2.8 and Oldham overperforming with 1.1.

Backing up Rowberry's claims as it shows Oldham didn't create the volume of quality chances as Newport did, they were just clinical on the day whilst the Welsh club weren't.

Conceding from a corner, near post, and a ball into the back post, The Exiles' defenders gave too much respect to The Latics' attack who took advantage of the lacklustre defending.

Sheridan's side were lucky not to have conceded more, but his side's grit to try and salvage something out of the game despite being dominated says a lot about them as they are now unbeaten in their last four league games.

That run of form has seen them lifted from the foot of the league to 23rd, leaving them with a bit more hope of surviving the drop as they sit two points from Carlisle.

Meanwhile, Newport are still in the play-offs but will be looking over their shoulder as Swindon and Port Vale have games in hand on the Welsh outfit.

The Verdict

Two losses, two wins and a draw against a second bottom is not ideal form for a team looking to cement their place in the top seven especially with Swindon and Port Vale in the rear-view mirrors.

They reached the play-off final, last season where they would fall short once again as they would lose 1-0 to Morecambe - a team many considered to be the underdog - however, this season it looks like the risk of missing out on the play-offs altogether is greater than ever.

Michael Flynn leaving the club after four years in charge due to a poor start to the season could have been an early indication for some of flaws in this Newport side.

Whilst Rowberry has turned it around for them, redeeming a lot of the attacking quality and catapulting the Welsh club back into play-off contention, but this blip in form is exposing the same flaws defensively which we saw before Flynn's dismissal.

They have the sixth-worst defensive record in the league, conceding 41 goals and having a clean sheet percentage of 25.8 percent whilst boasting the second most goals scored in the league with 49 - a very good attacking team, but terrible defensively and that is what could cost Newport a place in the play-offs.

Swindon and Port Vale may as well be licking their lips at the prospect of getting in the play-offs as their games in hands could be detrimental to Newport, it's all up to them on how they react.