Crawley stun Newport County in League Two promotion race

The Exiles headed into the fixture in seventh place and hunting a win to stay into the play-offs, and potentially chase the top three.

Instead they suffered a damaging 2-1 defeat that saw them slide to eighth and leaves them with little margin for error when they head to rivals Sutton on Monday afternoon.

READ MORE: Post-match reaction

The first half was a nightmare with County putting in arguably their worst display under Rowberry and Crawley playing excellent, switched-on football.

They got a deserved lead when Ashley Nadesan reacted smartly to fire in from a cross after 15 minutes then doubled it through central defender Ludwig Francillette, who was somehow free in the box despite being 6ft 3ins, after the hosts were caught napping from a corner.

County were chasing the game but had hope in the 59th minute when James Waite finished superbly from Dom Telford’s cross, their first real chance of the game.

It should have been level with eight minutes to go but substitute Rob Street flicked a header wide and they piled on the pressure in the closing stages.

Alas, County failed to scramble a point and now cannot afford to drop many more points; it is their home form that is costing them with Crawley following Harrogate and Exeter in leaving Newport with the spoils.

Rowberry has stressed after victories, defeats and draws that he believes the promotion race will go to the wire.

County now need to dramatically up their game in a swift turnaround to Sutton if they are to still be in the mix when they take to the Rodney Parade pitch against Rochdale on May 7.

Rowberry made three expected changes, bringing Jake Cain in for the injured Robbie Willmott in midfield while his first-choice strike partnership of Dom Telford and Courtney Baker-Richardson was reunited in the XI.

The little and large pair had last started on February 19 when Baker-Richardson suffered a hamstring injury against Mansfield, with his absence playing a part in Telford’s relative goal drought of eight games.

The manager warned that Crawley would be organised and dangerous despite sitting in mid-table with nothing to play for.

So it proved with the visitors, who headed to Wales on a run of three wins from four, starting brightly and causing problems with their energy.

Crawley were first to everything and got the lead that their start deserved in the 15th minute when the alert Nadesan made the most of poor defending of a cross from the left to finish from Kwesi Appiah’s knock down.

It got worse five minutes later, with it all stemming from captain Mickey Demetriou playing County into trouble, leading to a booking for James Waite for a late challenge on the edge of the box.

The Exiles defended the free-kick but not the resulting corner with a smart move down the left exploiting leaden-footed defending for central defender Francillette to deftly slot past Joe Day with the outside of his right boot.

County needed a response and were close to settling nerves in the 34th minute when a scramble ended with Demetriou’s shot being cleared off the line and then Cain curling over from the edge of the box.

However, it was Crawley that came closest to the third goal of the afternoon with the final chance of the half when Nadesan fired a cross in that almost led to an own goal or a simple finish for Appiah.

That would have killed County’s hopes but there was still a chance as they resumed for the second half with the same XI.

They needed a response but were unable to put Crawley under serious stress with too many passes going astray, allowing the visitors to slow things down and kill the clock.

County made their first chance approaching the hour by bringing on Rob Street for Baker-Richardson and he made an immediate impact with a lay-off to spark a goal to provide hope.

Cameron Norman played a ball down the right channel and Telford, who timed his run perfectly, put a superb ball into the box for Waite to slam in.

County had belief and Aaron Lewis soon had an opportunity on the edge of the box but his effort was simple for goalkeeper Glenn Morris then Finn Azaz fired across the face of the goal from the left.

The Crawley ‘keeper stayed calm to back-pedal and save after 74 minutes when Telford countered from a free-kick and then fired in a shot from 40 metres.

It should have been 2-2 with eight minutes to go when Demetriou pinged in a cross from the left but Street, unmarked in the middle, flicked a header a yard wide.

They kept pressing and the skipper saw a blasted effort from distance tipped over then Norman headed a yard wide from an Azaz corner with four minutes to go.

Six minutes were added on and County finished with Joe Day going up but they could not repeat the last-gasp drama from Swindon.

County: Day, Norman, Clarke, Demetriou (captain), Lewis, Bennett, Cain (Collins 82), Waite, Azaz, Telford, Baker-Richardson (Street 57).
Substitutes not used: Townsend, Haynes, Pask, Dolan, Ellison.
Goal: Waite.
Yellow: Waite.

Crawley: Morris, Francombe, Nichols, Nadesan, Tilley, Francillette, Ferry, Appiah, Payne, Lynch, Hessenthaler.
Substitutes: Davies, Tunnicliffe, Matthews, Hutchison, Seymour, Marshall.
Goals: Nadesan, Francillette.

Referee: Simon Mather.
Attendance: 5,137 (136 away)