Town fell to a heavy defeat this afternoon in South-Wales as a pair of goals either side of half-time saw Simon Weaver's side on the wrong end of a 4-0 defeat.
Top scorer Dom Telford bagged himself a brace with further strikes from Mickey Demtriou and Courtney Baker-Richardson adding to Town's misery.Town handed an immediate debut to Leon Legge, who arrived from Port Vale earlier this week. Alex Pattison also returned to the starting line-up following his recent absence. There was also a place on the bench for Lewis Richards, on loan from Premier League side Wolves.
The hosts, missing manager James Rowberry through Covid, brought Josh Pask into their side for his debut following his arrival from Coventry with James Waite named amongst the substitutes.
The game was Town's first for almost a month due to a number of postponements and cup commitments and was played behind closed doors as due to the restrictions in place by the Welsh government.
Telford had the first opportunity of the game as he slalomed towards the Town box but new man Legge snuffed out the danger to put his stamp on the game in the early stages.
Telford was involved in the opening goal though minutes later. Josh Falkingham, red carded here last season, was penalised on eight minutes for a mistimed challenge on the 16-goal man in the box. Skipper Demtriou stepped up to convert despite Mark Oxley guessing the right way.
Town looked to respond despite the early setback, utilising Lewis Page down the left-hand side. Their first opportunity of note though was a George Thomson free-kick from fully 30 yards but he dragged the ambitious effort well wide.
Luke Armstrong then went into the book for a mis-time challenge with Ollie Cooper following shortly after for pulling back Jack Muldoon.
Town had a half-chance on the half-hour mark when Brahima Diarra and Rory McArdle recycled a corner to set up Muldoon but he couldn't steer his header on target.
The hosts carried the biggest danger in the opening half though and almost doubled their lead when Baker-Richardson made his way into the box and was crowded out at the last minute by the Town defence s he was setting himself to get a shot away.
Thomson had the best chance of the half for Weaver's minutes before the break when he unleashed a trademark effort that keeper Nick Townsend got his fingertips to.
Diarra became the third Town player to find his way into the book on the stroke of half-time, perhaps harshly so with Town appealing for a penalty, and were then dealt a hammer blow when Telford scuffed effort at the near post trickled in past Oxley to double the Exiles lead.
And Town began the second-half even worse than they ended the first when they lost possession deep in their own territory and then afforded Telford far too much space in the area and he comfortably dispatched his finish beyond Oxley for his 18th goal of the season.
And matters got worse on 55 minutes when Baker-Richardson this time found himself beyond the Town defence to fire past Oxley with an identical finish to Telford's second.
With a seemingly unassailable lead the home side introduced young debutant Waite after an hour whilst Town replaced Muldoon with Mark Beck, the big striker featuring for the first time since his return from a loan spell at York City.
Weaver made a further double change with John Austerfield and Nathan Sheron replacing Diarra and Ryan Fallowfield.
Substitute Beck almost grabbed a consolation shortly after being introduced when he met Thomson's in-swinging corner but failed to get a clean connection on his effort and the ball fell harmlessly wide.
The half-chance though was Town's only real effort of note after the break as the hosts enjoyed a comfortable final quarter of the game to see out the victory that saw them move up to fifth ahead of the rest of the weekend's fixtures.
The defeat was Town's fourth in succession in league action and sees them winless in their past five outings.
TOWN: Oxley, Fallowfield (Sheron, 67), Page, McArdle, Legge, Falkingham, Pattison, Diarra (Austerfield, 67), Thomson, Muldoon (Beck, 60), Armstrong.
Subs not used: Cracknell, Richards, Kerry.
Booked: Falkingham (8), Armstrong (19), Diarra (40).
Newport County: Townsend, Norman, Demetriou, Pask, Haynes, Bennett (Lewis, 86), Cain. Azaz, Cooper (Waite, 60), Telford (Collins, 82), Baker-Richardson.
Subs not used: Day, Clarke, Abraham, Fisher.
Goals: Demetriou (8, pen), Telford (45, 48), Baker-Richardson (54).
Booked: Cooper (22), Norman (46).
Referee: Ollie Yates.