NEWPORT County stretched their unbeaten run to ten but had to settle for a point after a bruising encounter at Sutton United.

The previous three outings saw the Exiles compete in free-flowing and exciting games that have enthralled and entertained.

This was not the case on Saturday in a dull and lifeless encounter where chances were at a premium.

Sutton, as expected, were compact and physical, they kicked anything that moved without prejudice and the playing surface was appalling.

So bad, in fact, that it made Spytty Park last season look like the Centre Court at Wimbledon; uneven bounce was the order of the day as County's players struggled to work out the best way to play the pitch.

Credit, then, to the Exiles for coming away with a valuable point, helped greatly by an absolutely abysmal refereeing performance by Robert Whitton.

Mr Whitton lost control of proceedings early on when some late challenges by Sutton led to some pushing and shoving. From then on in he was compelled to blow his whistle for every little infringement.

At times in the second half he resembled a child with an air-horn at a football match, irritatingly, inconsistently and frequently blowing his whistle to interrupt an already poor game.

His assistants weren't any better, and the amount of wrong decisions made was extraordinarily high. Mr Whitton also never allowed either side an advantage if they retained the ball after a foul, leading to a poor contest being interrupted more often than one would be at a dinner party with Michael Winner and Vanessa Feltz.

County's equaliser came from the spot and it was the worst decision of the match, no-one in the ground other than the official saw anything other than a well-timed challenge.

The old cliché of these things balancing themselves out during the course of the season is probably true, but County manager Peter Beadle was pretty forthright in his views on the decision.

"We were very lucky with the penalty, it looked like an excellent tackle to me," he said after the game.

Heavy legs are clearly taking a bit of a toll on County - though this is understandable.

They started appallingly on Saturday, were behind after three minutes and could've easily conceded at least once more in the first 20 minutes.

Damon Searle reacted slowly to a diagonal ball and striker Warren McBean got in behind him, laying the ball off to Craig Tanner, who got goalside of Steve Jenkins and Stewart Edwards to poke home past Jacob Giles.

Edwards was included, with skipper John Brough sidelined by flu. He had a difficult start to the match, but improved immeasurably under difficult circumstances alongside Ian Hillier, who was also excellent after a poor start.

On nine minutes Ross Gaynor burst clear as the County rearguard remained static, his tame effort was easy for Giles and represented a real let-off.

With the referee blowing for many strange decisions the game began to settle into a dull affair, only brought to life by the flash- points following two clear yellow-card offences by robust Sutton.

It was on the stroke of half-time that Whitton handed County a lifeline, Alan Bray's superbly timed tackle on Craig Hughes after the striker twisted inside the box being deemed a penalty offence.

Jason Bowen's typically assured and distinctive finish sent goalkeeper Phil Wilson the wrong way and marked Bowen's 10th penalty goal of the season.

On 53 minutes Sutton had a penalty appeal turned down, and on 73 minutes Searle forced Wilson to brilliantly save a 30-yard free kick that was just tipped over the bar, but the second half was even worse than the first.

Tony Quinton's volley from a tight angle didn't trouble Giles on the hour, and Sam O'Sullivan's run and shot was easy for Wilson on 81.

In the final moments Bowen was let down by a poor touch as he looked to burst through, but the 1-1 scoreline was probably fair.

County are now two points off the play-offs with a game in hand, and will look to take four points at least from away trips to Eastbourne and Weston before the season ends on Saturday at home to Cambridge.

Sutton: Wilson, Palmer, Bray, Scarborough, Gonsalves, Quinton, Gray, Honey, McBean, Gaynor, Tanner (Henry 69). Subs not used: Blackwell, Alimi, Twiwo, Naughton.

Booked: Gaynor (foul, 36), Tanner (dissent, 36), Gray (foul, 46), Gonsalves (foul, 53), Bray (foul, 63).

County: Giles, Jenkins, Searle, Davies, Edwards, Hillier, Bowen, Collier, Griffin (Alsop 72), Hughes, O'Sullivan (Bassett 85). Subs not used: Holdsworth, Simpson, Ovendale.

Booked: Hillier (dissent, 36).

Referee: Robert Whitton (Essex).

Attendance: 685.