NEWPORT County AFC manager Graham Westley was left “staggered” by the “match-changing decision” that led to another defeat for his side at Mansfield Town.

County led through Ryan Bird’s early strike but that was cancelled out by Krystian Pearce’s leveller before the break.

Exiles striker Jaanai Gordon then picked up two yellow cards in just two minutes midway through the second half before Shaquile Coulthirst earned the Stags all three points from the spot after Craig Reid was penalised for handball.

The defeat means Westley’s men remain six points from safety with 13 games to play.

And the manager believes that the decision by referee Ross Joyce to show Gordon a second yellow after an aerial challenge cost his side at least a point.

“I’ve seen it several times now and their boy clutches his face but his [Gordon’s] arms are down, there’s scarcely any contact,” he said.

“He’s jumped honestly for the ball and nobody in their right mind [thinks it was a foul] – even their analyst said ‘we couldn’t believe it when he gave the sending off.’

“I’m staggered,” he added. “What staggers me most of all is that the referee has sent Jan off and he didn’t consult the fourth official who was standing with me about five yards from the incident.

“I said to the fourth official ‘did you get consulted in that decision?’ and he said no.

“I go along to referee’s meetings and in those meetings they talk about the importance in decision making of different points of view.

“What you think’s happened from one angle, when you look at it from a different angle you see that it’s a completely different scenario.

“And from the distance he was at he could not possibly have seen what we clearly saw and the footage shows – that there was scarcely any contact whatsoever, there definitely wasn’t an arm used and there wasn’t a yellow card offence.

“Had he done his job properly and consulted he could have got that information from the fourth official and he could have made the correct decision and not a match-changing decision.”

Westley feels the referee was influenced by the Mansfield players, management and the home fans at Field Mill.

“Probably the influence of a crowd is the reason why home teams have something called home advantage,” he said.

“But a referee has to be strong enough, wise enough and able enough to referee what’s in front of him and make decisions in a coherent way.

“Not to consult with the fourth official, who is five yards away, is a disregard for decision-making duties in my opinion.”

The Exiles were missing David Pipe due to illness, while Mark O’Brien aggravated an injury in the warm-up and Michael Flynn was forced off with a hamstring problem in the first half.

Next up is a home clash against 23rd-placed Leyton Orient at Rodney Parade next Saturday.