Manager Steve Ibbitson was full of praise for his young side after Lewes had their long unbeaten home run ended by runaway league leaders Newport County on Saturday.

Ibbitson also insisted that his side will continue to attempt to play passing football after seeing the Rooks lose their first game at the Dripping Pan since mid-September.

He said: “I’ve had a lot of nice comments from Newport saying that we’re one of the best footballing sides they’ve seen in this league.

“It sounds a bit silly given our league position but we will always try to play football and if we had to resort to lumping it then I wouldn’t be here.

“We played really well against Newport and it was never a 3-0 result.

“There were plenty of positives to take out of the game and we’ll do just that.”

The Rooks started brightly and came close to taking the lead after just three minutes when Chris Breach’s shot was hacked off the line by Scott Rogers.

Lewes were arguably still the better side when Newport took the lead in the 25th minute when Rogers turned in a low cross from Craig Reid.

However, the game’s turning point came two minutes before half-time when substitute Ryan Timms was sent off for hauling down Dave Gilroy for a penalty. Although Rikki Banks denied Reid from the spot you got the feeling Lewes were always going to be up against it in the second half and so it proved.

Ten minutes after the interval Kerry Morgan added the Welsh side’s second following another good cross from the impressive Reid, and substitute Charlie Henry added a touch of gloss to the scoreline with a late third after the Rooks had exerted a good spell of pressure on the visitors’ goal.

Ibbitson said: “We could have simply shored things up and said 1-0 or 2-0 is respectable but we changed it and went three at the back towards the end to try and see if we could get something out of the game.

“We tried to be positive and we’ll always do that.”

The Rooks boss also once again repeated his desire to bring a proven goalscorer into his squad.

He added: “We do need a goal threat because we could have scored in that early spell and if you do it’s a different game.

“We didn’t and we haven’t done in enough games this season.

“We’re looking at a couple of strikers at the moment. We’ve got Chamal Fenelon and there’s another one we’re talking to but, as ever, it is whether the finances will stand it.”

Lewes: Banks, Barness, Sutton (Timms 34), Pearson, Walder, Breach, Wheeler, Keehan, Louis (Fenelon 69), Rivers (Foreman 69), Royce. Subs not used: Peauroux, Pople Sent off: Timms (43) Newport County: Thompson, Bignot, Collins (Thelwell 69), Turk, Warren, Cochlin, Holgate (Charlie Henry), Rogers, Reid, Gilroy (Foley 65), Morgan. Subs not used: Hartrick, Blackburn Attendance: 521.