Weymouth suffered their first reverse under caretaker coach Paul Buckle and exited a second cup competition in a fortnight at the expense of a Newport County side spattered with youth at the Wessex Stadium last night.

And there was further disappointment for the diehard Terras' fans who soon realised that there was to be no repeat of the recent FA Cup tie at Dorchester once County substitute John Phillips had shot the Welshmen 2-0 ahead late on.

The Exiles, still smarting from a 4-1 hiding at Tiverton in the FA Cup on Saturday, put their faith in the club's youngsters and it paid off as a goal in each half sunk a lacklustre, and near full strength, Terras side who found it hard to make any impression in the final third and are now left with just the FA Trophy as their sole cup distraction this term.

Not for the first time Weymouth found themselves going a goal down at home and Buckle agreed that these regular setbacks had dented confidence.

"We desperately need to find the first goal in home games. Tonight we enjoyed stacks of possession but we're not expressing ourselves in the final third. The confidence isn't there at the moment and we could feel the doom and gloom growing around the ground. We really wanted to lift the negativity but anxiety grows when you're chasing games," he said.

The Terras reverted back to a 4-4-2 system where returning centre backs Matt Bound and Jamie Impey gave assured performances - one of the few positives to take from the game. Keeper Francisco Ramos also gained some more valuable first team experience as Jason Matthews was rested.

"Defensively we have no complaints at the moment. We've got a good squad here but we really need to up it in the final third," Buckle concluded.