Newport County 1 Crawley Town 0: Reds lose in South Wales

There was not much between the two sides but in the end the home side's out of the blue early goal clinched them a valuable three points in their relegation battle.

The game was played in very wet conditions when a heavy downpour earlier in the day left the pitch soaked.

Reds were unchanged from the side which beat Leyton Orient 3-0 with midfielder Kaby Djalo preferred to Dean Cox who was on the bench.

They lined-up in a 4-2-3-1 formation against Newport's 4-42.

Crawley survived an early penalty appeal when Sean Riggs' shot struck Josh Yorwerth on the arm but the spot-kick was not given.

Jimmy Smith then dragged a shot wide at the other end from the edge of the area as the visitors went on the attack.

Newport took the lead in the 18th minute when Mickey Demetriou intercepted a pass from Josh Payne toward Enzio Boldewijn and hit a scorching 30-yarder straight into the top left hand corner of Glenn Morris' net.

A ball from the right found Rhys Murphy 25 yards out whose shot flew narrowly wide.

Newport twice went close to adding a second just before half-time when Glenn Morris made a fine save to deny former Crawley loanee Mitch Rose, then Alex Samuel headed a cross over the bar.

The game had as major twist six minutes into the second half when an altercation between Josh Yorwerth and Newport's captain Joss Labadie were both sent-off, leaving both sides to play out the majority of the second half reduced to ten men.

Scott Bennett was denied with his long-shot by Morris, who got down well to save.

Cox replaced Djalo on the hour but it was Newport tasted more attacking action as Demetriou headed over the bar.

Then Ryan Bird had a shot saved one-on-one by Morris, before putting the follow up shot wide with the goal beckoning.

Matt Harrold came on for Muphy for the last 70 minutes as Reds looked for a late goal.

The sun came out and the loud home crowd remained upbeat throughout.

James Collins had a late chance smothered in the six-yard box as the charged crowd enjoyed an exciting finish.

Finally six minutes of added-time ended in Boldewijn being denied on the right from close-range by keeper Joe Day as the home crowd enjoyed the spoils.

REDS (4-2-3-1): Morris, Young, Payne, Boldewijn, Smith (capt), Blackman, Yorwerth, Collins, McNerney, Djalo (Cox 60), Murphy (Harrold 71)

Unused subs: Mersin, Bawling, Clifford, Lelan, Cox, Henderson

NEWPORT (4-4-2): Day, Butler, Labadie (capt), Samuel (Nelson 90), Bennett, Pipe, O'Brien, Rigg, Demetriou, Rose (Owen-Evans 75), Bird (Myrie-Williams 82)

Unused subs: Bittner, Barnum-Bobb, Randall, Gordon

REFEREE: Darren England

ATTENDANCE: 2,946 (113)