Paul Cook fell to his first home defeat as Town boss as Newport County beat a much-changed Blues side 1-0 at Portman Road in the first round of the Carabao Cup. Timmy Abraham’s fourth-minute goal was enough to see the Exiles through, however, Town, who ended the game with 10 men after James Norwood suffered a knock with all three subs made, dominated and had more than enough opportunities to win the game.

Centre-half Luke Woolfenden was the only survivor from the XI which started the 2-2 with Morecambe on Saturday.

Tomas Holy was in goal with Janoi Donacien, a sub against the Shrimps, skippering at right-back with Woolfenden and Corrie Ndaba the centre-halves.

Bailey Clements was handed his second senior start, his first having come in the same competition two years ago, at left-back.

In central midfield, neither Lee Evans nor Rekeem Harper was involved and Idris El Mizouni started alongside Cameron Humphreys with the 17-year-old handed his senior debut.

Armando Dobra was on the right, and Sone Aluko, also making his debut, were in the wide roles with Louie Barry, another debutant, behind Saturday’s last-gasp goal hero Macauley Bonne, who was making his full debut for his hometown club.

Kayden Jackson and youngsters Matt Ward, Fraser Alexander and Albie Armin were among the subs.

Newport boss Michael Flynn named an entirely changed XI from the one which beat Oldham 1-0 away in their opening fixture at the weekend including seven youth products. Ex-Blues midfielder Ed Upson was on the bench.

Prior to kick-off both teams and staff took a knee in protest against racism and inequality to applause from the Portman Road crowd.

Town went close to going in front in the third minute when Dobra brought the ball forward from a central area and hit a low shot across Exiles keeper Nick Townsend but off the outside of the post.

However, a minute later, the visitors went in front. Finn Azaz beat Aluko on the right of the area following a free-kick and crossed low for the unmarked Abraham, the younger brother of England international Tammy, to deftly flick past Holy.

Town quickly looked to get back on terms and in the seventh minute a cross from the right fell to Dobra, who hit a well-struck shot which Townsend batted away. The ball reached Donacien and the St Lucia-born full-back sent it back in for Bonne, who headed into the ground and over.

Newport threatened a second in the 12th minute when Jordan Greenidge turned the ball wide to Kevin Ellison, then burst into the area and only a timely intervention from Woolfenden prevented the Exiles forward from having a free shot at Holy from inside the area.

Chances were coming at both ends in an open early phase of the game. On 14 Barry broke into the area on the right and teed-up Aluko to his left but the Nigerian international, who was making an off-the-pace start to the match, air-kicked.

The ball eventually reached Clements breaking forward from left-back but his shot flew wide with Bonne trying to divert it goalwards with his head.

In the 18th minute Azaz belted a 25-yard free-kick deep into the lower tier of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.

Two minutes later, Humphreys cleverly beat his man a third of the way inside the Newport half, then threaded an incisive pass through to the breaking Clements to his left. The academy product sent in a low ball but awkwardly for Bonne and keeper Townsend was able to claim.

On 21 Aluko was booked for a foul on Christopher Missilou, then Barry and Dobra combined well on halfway and the Albanian U21 international burst away towards goal but shot against a defender when returning the ball to the on-loan Aston Villa man might have been a better option.

Town were well in control and looking threatening going forward but with their approach breaking down with the final pass or decision. On 24 Humphreys found Barry at the far post with a lofted ball but the linesman’s flag had been raised.

Just after the half hour, an Aluko corner from the right eventually fell for Bonne at a tight angle and the Ipswich-born striker smashed a shot off the outside of the post.

Newport started to see more of the ball and space in the Town half when breaking. On 34 Holy grabbed Abraham’s low cross ahead of Greenidge.

Five minutes later, Aluko, who was finding his way into the game, feinted his way into the area and fed Donacien to his right. The right-back crossed for Bonne, who headed wide.

On 41 Aneurin Livermore was booked for a foul on Dobra just to the left of the penalty box. El Mizouni took the free-kick and hit a low effort at Townsend’s post which the keeper did well to get down to and push wide.

In the penultimate scheduled minute Donacien, who had had a good half, slipped Barry in on the right of the area and the Villa youngster shot into the side-netting at a tight angle.

Town continued to create opportunities in injury time with Bonne rising high to nod to Townsend’s right from Donacien’s right-wing cross but without enough power to concern the keeper.

The half ended with the visitors still in the lead although with the Blues having had plenty of chances.

Despite having gone behind for the second game in a row, Town quickly got control of the game and had had more than enough opportunities to be on terms having hit the woodwork twice, but will feel they should have been sharper with their finishing.

At the other end, Newport had served warning that a second goal was far from an impossibility on a number of occasions with Abraham and Greenidge both having caused problems.

Five minutes after the restart, Bonne battled for the ball on left of the Newport area and it fell for Barry, who blazed over when he will feel he should have done better.

Town thought they’d levelled in the 51st minute when Humphreys sent over a cross from the left which Bonne headed home, but with the linesman’s flag raised.

Three minutes later, the Exiles were forced into a sub with former Blue Upson, the scorer of Town’s 2005 FA Youth Cup-winning goal, replacing Livermore, who had picked up a knock.

Town made their first chance in the 56th minute when Aluko, who had got more into the game after a slow start, was replaced by Scott Fraser.

Just before the hour, a slick Blues move ended with Humphreys, who had certainly made his mark on his debut, playing a pass in behind a defender into Clements’s path on the left and the full-back sent over a dangerous low ball which Townsend grabbed ahead of Barry, taking a kick to his head as a result.

Town continued to look for the equaliser with the second half having been played almost entirely at one end of the field. In the 63rd minute Dobra cut in from the left and struck a powerful shot which was destined for the top corner until Townsend got up and across to superbly paw it wide.

That was Barry’s last action of the game, the England U18 international having shown why he is so highly rated, as he and Bonne, who will feel he should have scored his second Blues goal, were swapped for Norwood and Jackson.

There was a scare for Town on 67 when Ndaba outside-edged a clearance from Lewis Collins’s right-sided cross towards his own goal but fortunately close to Holy, who claimed.

The Blues will wonder how they didn’t get level in the 72nd minute. After a neat interchange on the right, Fraser left his man for dead on the byline, then cut across to Dobra six yards out. The forward took a touch when he probably should have shot first time and his effort was blocked by the keeper.

The save looped to Jackson and his header arced towards goal but without enough power to prevent it from being cleared off the line.

Town created another great opportunity in the 77th minute when Dobra fed Clements to his left from where the left-back beat his man and crossed to Norwood, who headed over at the near post having appeared to be nursing an injury.

Moments later, the striker made his way to the tunnel, leaving the Blues down to 10 men with all three subs having been used.

On 81 Abraham became the latest in a long line of Newport players to take to the turf for treatment for what appeared to be no other reason other than to hold the game up, much to the annoyance of the Town support.

Blues chances had become rarer since losing a man but with four minutes left on the clock, Dobra won a corner on the left which was sent over by El Mizouni and Donacien headed high and wide.

Newport saw out five minutes of injury time, indeed they pressed for a second and won two corners, to end Town’s Carabao Cup run at the first hurdle yet again.

The Blues had dominated, particularly in the second half when the game was like a training exercise for long spells, but were let down by bad decisions and bad finishing.

Town are next in action in League One against Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Town: Holy, Donacien (c), Woolfenden, Ndaba, Clements, El Mizouni, Humphreys, Dobra, Barry (Norwood 64), Aluko (Fraser 56), Bonne (Jackson 64). Unused: Hladky, Armin, Alexander, Ward.

Newport: Townsend, Clarke (c), Lewis, Hall, Abraham, Azaz (Collins 64), Ellison (Telford 73), Missilou, Greenidge, Woodiwiss, Livermore (Upson 54). Unused: Ovendale, Hillier, Lewis, Karadogan. Referee: Neil Hair (Cambridgeshire). Att: 6,154 (Newport: 131).

Photo: Matchday Images

TimmyH added 23:41 - Aug 10 'A few years to get promoted' - Can't ever remember Brett Johnson saying that @Blues1, do recall him saying along the lines of pressing for promotion 'very soon' ...and the current financial input going into ITFC is in desire to get to the Premier League in the future. Personally feel if it takes a few years (which is more than 2) Gamechanger will be disappointed and Cook certainly won't be here. Cook needs time no doubt just feel a little disgruntled with the line up tonight, the fans deserve better and with such big changes with playing staff, coaches and the ownership we might have seen a different stance tonight.

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TimmyH added 23:44 - Aug 10 I should state 'takes a few years in regards to getting out of League One not getting into the Premiership'.
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budgieplucker added 00:24 - Aug 11 I like to think I am patient and a voice of reason. I stuck with Mick McCarthy longer than most until he had to go for his outburst against fans. I thought Hurst was let down badly by Marcus Evans and set-up to fail. I thought Paul Lambert with 10 injuries he had to contend with at the beginning of last season had a big hill to climb to turn supporters around, I had some sympathy with him until he kept telling us all the team played brilliantly week in week out!!! So I am not about to start pointing the finger at Paul Cook. However, the last decent home performance with a positive result was our 3-1 win at home to Fleetwood. I didn't expect much in pre-season and rocked up with my partner to watch the Palace and Millwall matches. Two defeats and not a home goal for some consolation. Pretty much 90% of the EFL have had a vast turnover, Morecambe had a large number of debuts on Saturday. There is always some crazy results in the first month until things settle down, so needing to gel will not be unique to us. Tonight, Mrs Budgieplucker and I rocked up to Portman Road, we don't live in Ipswich so with travel and paying a lot for two cups of tea in the ground, parking on top it probably cost us close to £36 pound. This was in order to give some support for the club. We could have course shown the same level of contempt to the cup competition as our management and paid for a £10 internet stream and had copious cups of free tea from our own kitchen and save 90 minutes or so travelling. Taking fans for granted by not putting out a reasonably strong team in cup competitions has to stop. If you are charging the fans and wanting them to turn up to the ground then they are entitled to their opinions, winning games again and scoring goals is very important. I personally am not making any demands on us going up this year, I just want to see a marked improvement on the field and our attitude towards paying fans and the cup games. Otherwise close the doors for cup games and say we don't give a damn and offer everyone a free stream!!!! What I also want is to fix the problems that continually let us down, last season and then again like Saturday and tonight - conceding poor goals early on. I don't have arguments with some changes tonight, especially resting Evans and Harper due to the lack of cover, and hey Cameron Humphreys was outstanding and El Miz has a very good game as well. But 10 changes really says it all. However, Bonne had little support. Yes young Barry showed one or two nice touches but frankly I prefer to develop our own young talent like Dobra and Humphreys. I held my head in my hands the other day when we signed Aluko, a player definitely past his best and on the way down - tonight did nothing to change my mind as he was probably the poorest player on the pitch by a long stretch. Following the news of his signing I thought the Michael Jacobs deal would be possibly dead (before Kyle Edwards name cropped up), Jacobs would have been a very good signing for us, someone who can comfortably play in about 3 positions and has a very good goal scoring record. Edwards may turn out to be a good signing, but few goals to his name, looks good on internet stream, but so did Keenan Bennetts but little final product. Yes the season ticket holders like us will keep rocking up, I don't believe in booing or certainly not during the match, but that doesn't mean I feel others shouldn't express their frustrations if they are paying hard earned cash to support the team. This is Paul Cooks team now and radically changing a side with 10 changes will not make the gelling any quicker. We have to contend with injuries as they occur but if we have a strong squad we should be able to do that without putting players in cotton wool. I understand those who may not care how we do in the cup competitions, but in my nearly sixty years supporting the club, the outstanding memories come from many semi finals with lots of tensions and Wembley finals as well as memorable night in Amsterdam. So I won't have anyone preach to me about cup competitions not being important - even amongst greater memories that Tamas Priskin goal against Arsenal in the semi final of this competition sticks in my mind. I won't judge our ability to win promotion until 10 games in and I will give some fair latitude towards the rebuild but I am just so fed up going out in a cup competition for the umpteenth time to Div 2 opposition.

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istanblue added 00:55 - Aug 11 Losing to a little crap club at home: tick Losing in the first round of a cup competition: tick New era, same old Ipswich.
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GiveusaWave added 01:06 - Aug 11 A wake up call to all those fans singing the chequebook song a few games ago. Too much expectation and right now the team isn't meeting those expectations....we haven't got the results in the friendlies and we aren't getting the results for real... Time to lower those expectations. If we make 6th this season...great...if not, we will bringing in players all the time that can increase the chances of play-offs next season. We will go up if we stick with Cook...but it might take two, even three seasons. We can then expect to build to try to stay in the Championship... Work in progress. Only disappointment for me was not seeing Siziba or Chirewa...both players have been in exceptional form and this was a chance for Cook to reward that form. It's demotivating for players in their situation...they deserve a chance...especially against a bottom of Division 4 club.. Another humiliating day for ITFC....but I'm hoping that it is one of the last. Might take some thrashings this season from more established squads in this division...but I believe we have turned a corner as a club. We are heading in the right direction...will just take time and patience.

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austractor added 02:00 - Aug 11 From only the highlights you can see how we opened them up, and you have to describe at least 3 of the misses as criminal on our part. That team was well strong enough to win and played well. Move on
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Minneapolis_ITFC added 02:43 - Aug 11 This club name has never won - or featured in - a League Cup Final. It may be safe to say that statistic will remain intact for near eternity. So the team created chances and should have won, but didn't. Sorry but when you got a home advantage over 90 minutes against the caliber of opposition we played today a win is the absolute expectation. We were never going to win any of the Cup comps this season but a win on route here and there would have been good for morale and provided an extra somethng to believe in. Cook changed the team drastically for the Newport visit and perhaps we got a bit complacent in a game where many thought victory was there before the damn thing was even underway. Frustrating and all, but really nothing new here.

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JewellintheTown added 03:50 - Aug 11 Is anyone seriously bothered about even being in the carabau... Caraboo... Carbarou... Carabou... Carawhatever cup? Just an excuse for crocodile tears and a good moan for some of you. Bunch of drama queens! Paul Cook is completely rebuilding, buying in strong minded players & toughening the mentality of those he's not sold off yet its once again its actually the minority of some fans that need to suck it up & get a grip & be patient! He can't do that for you! Management, staff, players, managers, owners & grounds have all changed for the better but some "fans" are still stuck in a negative, pessimistic attitude. Grow a pair or get out!

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Blueactually75 added 06:16 - Aug 11 We keep being told that the cups are not our priority but surely we now have a squad capable of beating Newport Reserves at home. Surely the FANS are the priority and the FANS would actually like to beat a 3rd Division team to give us something to get excited about. Not winning games can easily become habit. Still not 100% about the manager. Love to be proved wrong.

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Nobbysnuts added 06:30 - Aug 11 Let's face it...cooks record is appalling. If he had played the ist team and we lost...imagine that. At least he has an excuse now.
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Dissboyitfc added 07:17 - Aug 11 i want to point out that i am in full support of cook for now, we should all be! i do think that the longer we go without a victory the less patient amongst the town fans will turn on cook. `i said at the end part of last season we will see what we are getting 10 games into the season. Can we please move on from last nights disappointment and support the team! and PC. still on subject, the last 2 seasons we have got off to flyers (points wise) whilst not playing particularly well, just getting results and getting found out as the season unfolds, if am fine with a slow start and doing it the opposite way around!

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alexsmith111 added 07:23 - Aug 11 I genuinely couldn't give 2 fluffers about the cup, poor result, but still don't care. Saturday is 1000% more important
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Dissboyitfc added 07:26 - Aug 11 cup games are important! they give fringe players competitive games. Dont know why anybody thinks U23 games give the same level of competitiveness!
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Dissboyitfc added 07:55 - Aug 11 well said Blueboy!
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dirtydingusmagee added 08:05 - Aug 11 well said budgieplucker .
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dirtydingusmagee added 08:09 - Aug 11 blueactually75 sorry marked down by mistake, totally agree with you .
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dirtydingusmagee added 08:25 - Aug 11 the players we have now should be good enough to win games against the likes of Newport regardless as to how long they have played together, the fans have not seen any success for over a decade, surely against a lge2 reserve team ,we can feel disappointed and let down without being slagged off by those who have accepted failure for so long they are imune to crap results. When i said i was disappointed with pre season results i was hammered with down votes on here [water off a ducks back ] but the two games we have now played and failed to win were hardly against top flight teams and results no better. Cook needs to give fans some results soon he has been very flat to this point.

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londontractorboy57 added 08:38 - Aug 11 After yet another dismal display it makes think what were the superfans of ITFC realy wishing for was it this rubbish COOK OUT
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brendenward35 added 08:40 - Aug 11 Clock is ticking PC you've got your players your coaches so balls in your court. It's a results driven job don't get the results then Ashton will make big changes to get the result. You can do all the PR stuff to win over fans but that's not going to last if we don't get the results. Like I've said before I'm not convinced with the coaches but PC is happy with his backroom staff so let's see. 20+ chances and no goals last night points to either poor coaching or confidence but that's got to be sorted and quickly.

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londontractorboy57 added 08:48 - Aug 11 Blueboy we have been using that excuse since Jim got the boot time time time !!!
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Warky81 added 08:54 - Aug 11 Don't understand having bought in so many new players why you wouldn't play a settled team for first few matches so they can gel together. Completely changing the whole 11 was a stupid missed opportunity to get some sort of continuity. I hope Mr Cook you are not going to end up another manager that thinks he can just do what he wants regardless of what sense dictates as we've had far to many of those managers over the past 20 years. Do then right thing and do it the right way and i'm sure it'll work out fine.

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dirtydingusmagee added 09:47 - Aug 11 we have players with championship experience now, lets see that equate to some results PC, even Brenner and crew were saying we should be doing better with experienced players, all that gel talk wont be a shield for long, only those who accept failure will swallow that looking to Championship but losing to Lge 2 is not exactly convincing. WINNING MENTALITY is needed last night should have kick started it .

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Bluemike31 added 09:55 - Aug 11 Some of the comments are shameful, no we didn't win and I guess that is the be all and end all for some . The way we played at times was very good if you can look beyond the bloody scoreline, we are building something here and its not going to take long but Jesus christ Two games in and the lack of understanding of the situation is embarrassing. To play like that with the team we had out is pretty good going, of course I wanted to win but the stats don't lie, it was a decent performance all things considered. Everyone sings that song, "we'll support the Ipswich, if we're down or if we're up" What hypocritical bull.

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jonju11 added 10:13 - Aug 11 Poor management. We all realise that the first team need time to gel & what a perfect game to do just that. Sick & tired of hearing “game time” for the rest of the squad. Disrespectful of the Cup & a cop out for a first 11 who can't manage more than 1 game pw. As Season ticket holder for 31 years I feel justified in airing this view. Winning, whatever the game, breeds confidence & boosts morale. If we aren't interested in these games, don't enter & stop belittling this great Club. A 75yr olds “rant over”. Onwards & upwards.

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cat added 10:13 - Aug 11 Some of the negativity on here beggars belief. Compared to this time last year we are in a far better place. I suggest some of the more negative amongst you start attending games, that way you feel more affiliation with your club and can see what's actually going on.
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