May Says Swindon Struggled With Newport Physicality

SWINDON TOWN suffered a 2-0 defeat to promotion rivals Newport County at SN1 yesterday as the club succumbed to their second loss in three games. Total Sport Swindon's Rajan Hothi spoke to Swindon midfielder Adam May following the loss.

Goals from Newport's Mark O'Brien and Jamille Matt saw Michael Flynn's side take the three points back to South Wales in what was a disastrous afternoon for Richie Wellens' side. 

A serious injury to captain Dion Conroy early on in the clash looked to have stunned Town who struggled to find their feet against a physical Newport side. 

Adam May was subbed on in the place of Conroy, and the on-loan Portsmouth midfielder backed his team-mate to bounce-back from his injury. 

"It's never nice to see, especially that early on in the game, we wish him all the best and hope it isn't as bad as it looks," said May.

"Dion's been doing really well lately so it's come at an unfortunate time, but I'm sure he's a strong character and he'll bounce back quickly."

Swindon struggled with Newport's physical nature, with players like Tristan Abrahams bullying Town's defence, and May admitted that this physical style stopped Swindon from playing their own game.

"They came here with a game plan and it's worked, it's distracted us from what we wanted to do, and I don't think we played our own game today," he said. 

"We've fallen into their trap and it paid off for them." 

While Swindon struggled in the first-half, they did dominate the second, and they missed a glorious chance to restore parity when Lloyd Isgrove's strike cannoned off the bar, and May felt that not taking their chances was the problem for Town. 

"I think in the second-half we looked a lot better, but we couldn't just find that finish and they go up the other end and get a second, but that's football sometimes," stated May.

"We've got to take our chances or you get punished and unfortunately we have today."

The defeat condemned Swindon to their third defeat at home already this season, but the 20-year-old believes that there's a platform to build on for the home performances.

"We've done well, it's just been unfortunate we can't get that home form going at the moment," said May.

"But we've had a really good start to the season, there's a lot to build on. Like today, there was still good things from the game, but the main thing is the result and we haven't got that," he added. 

Despite the defeat, Swindon are still only two points adrift of the top spot in the division, but May revealed that no one is getting carried away this early in the season. 

"We're not getting carried away at the moment, obviously it's always nice to see you're up there but it's still early days," he said.

"A few results went our way today which is fortunate. We're well in with a chance but there's a lot of time left," added May