A dominant second-half performance from Town ensured they turned around an early deficit into all three points as goals from Josh March and Aaron Martin either side of half-time secured a 2-1 win against Newport at the EnviroVent Stadium.
Town had fallen behind to a Jake Scrimshaw goal on 16 minutes but a performance full of energy earned a first home win since the 1-0 victory against Barrow back in October.Simon Weaver made three changes to the side that fell to a 3-2 defeat at Tranmere in midweek. Will Smith made a welcome return to the starting line-up after missing almost three months of action, replacing the suspended Connor Hall whilst Simon Power and March replaced Brendan Kiernan and Jack Muldoon.
The Exiles made two changes, with Anthony Hartigan making his debut for the club and Nick Townsend selected in goal ahead of Tom King.
The visitors came into the game on the back of a seven-game winless run and almost fell behind on 10 minutes when Ed Francis curled a free-kick narrowly wide from the edge of the area after a foul by Ryan Haynes.
Newport would draw first blood though after 16 minutes. Town failed to clear their lines following a corner and Luke Gambin's strike was directed past James Belshaw by Scrimshaw.
Town would go close shortly after when Josh McPake was played through by George Thomson but although his effort was a powerful one it was too close to Townsend in the visitors goal.
They grabbed a deserved equaliser though on 35 minutes though when a long ball from Belshaw was won in the air by Aaron Martin with March making no mistake with his clinical finish.
The influential Scrimshaw almost restored Newport's lead from the kick-off when his speculative effort from 35-yards arrowed just wide off Belshaw's right-hand post.
Goalscorer March saw his name go into the book on the stroke of halftime following a Town attack that saw a penalty claim waved away the referee.
Although the windy conditions were impacting both sides in the early stages of the second half, the Town attack was playing with plenty of energy with March always willing to run at the opposition defence.
There was a glorious opportunity for Town to take the lead when Simon Power burst past his marker and whipped a teasing ball across the box which evaded both March and Martin by a matter of inches.
Martin then had a speculative volley from distance which had Townsend scrambling to keep out the danger.
Town's advantage forced a double-change from Exiles boss Mike Flynn, with Dom Telford and Robbie Willmott replacing Scrimshaw and Matty Dolan.
Power was again in the action as his great work set up Thomson who forced Townsend to save at full-stretch.
From the resulting corner though Town took the lead with Martin decisively meeting Thomson's deliver unchallenged to power past Townsend.
Exiles' hopes of getting back into the game were dealt a blow with 15 minutes remaining when Shephard was shown a straight red card for a lunge on Power.
Town did not let their advantage slip and they closed out the remaining although there was a late scare that saw Jake Lawlor head clear off his own line in the last minute.
Harrogate Town: Belshaw, Burrell, Francis, Lawlor, Smith, Falkingham, Thomson, Power, McPake, Martin, March (Muldoon, 86).
Subs not used: Minter, Williams, Hondermarck, Kiernan, Kerry.
Booked: March (44), Burrell (82)
Newport County: Townsend, Haynes, Dolan (Willmott, 62), Longe-King, Gambin (Amond, 77), Bennett, Hartigan (Collins, 88), Scrimshaw (Telford, 62), Demetriou, Taylor, Shephard.
Subs not used: King, Baker, Evans.
Sent off: Shephard (74)
Referee: Christopher Pollard.