SNOOKER star Ronnie O’Sullivan declared Crawley to be “a bit of a hell-hole” last week and anyone who made the trip from Newport for this match would probably sympathise with The Rocket.

O’Sullivan suffered a shock 6-1 defeat to veteran Mark Davis to crash out of the English Open at the town’s K2 Leisure Centre on Saturday.

It wasn’t quite that bad for Newport County AFC just across the road at the Checkatrade.com Stadium but a 4-1 beating at the hands of Crawley Town and a red card for Fraser Franks made for a miserable afternoon.

County were behind after just 58 seconds as Joe Maguire gave the hosts the perfect start and only a fine display from goalkeeper Joe Day and some poor finishing from Crawley kept them within touching distance at the break.

Jamille Matt celebrated his 29th birthday with a superbly-taken equaliser just before the hour but then, just as it looked like they could take control of the match, it all went wrong for the Exiles.

Franks and Mickey Demetriou combined to foul Ollie Palmer in the box and Crawley captain Filipe Morais restored their lead on 64 minutes.

There was no way back for Flynn’s men this time as Palmer headed in a third and substitute Ashley Nathaniel-George left them needing snookers on 79 minutes.

And there was still time for the referee to pull a red out of the pocket as Franks’ rash challenge on Nathaniel-George added to the manager’s problems.

With seven players ruled out through injury there was some mitigation for such a poor display from the visitors.

The makeshift midfield offered little protection for the back four or support for the front three and, apart from the 15 minutes after half-time, County were outplayed.

In Morais, Palmer, Lewis Young and Luke Gambin, Crawley had all the game’s outstanding performers and they could easily have added another three or four goals.

As it was it was their biggest league win since they thumped Barnsley 5-1 in February 2015 and they celebrated after the final whistle as if they had claimed a major scalp.

“I’m very pleased and proud of the players' performance,” said Reds boss Gabriele Cioffi.

“Apart from a 15-minute spell at the start of the second half I thought we were excellent.

“At half-time we should probably have led by two or three goals.

“The players were very good but when you give good teams like Newport space and time to play they will punish you, but the reaction to going to 1-1 was excellent.

“I thought it was a dominant performance and we scored some good goals.

“Perhaps we might have scored more but you have to give credit to Newport.

“They defended very strongly in the first half and overall made it very tough for us.”

That was a generous assessment of County’s display by the Italian, but they did at least show some resistance to hang on in the first half and draw level after the break before self-destructing again in the final half hour.

Like O’Sullivan, they now have to chalk this one up to experience and move on.

The Exiles have already proved this season that they can put disastrous days behind them and get back on track quickly but Tuesday’s trip to Bury will be another big test of their character, especially if there isn’t some good news on the injury front.

County: Day; Pipe, Demetriou, Franks, Butler; Bennett, Cooper, Sheehan (Harris, 70); Semenyo, Matt (Pring, 80), Amond

Subs not used: Townsend, Foulston, Flynn, Hillman

Booked: Butler

Sent off: Franks

Referee: Charles Breakspear

Attendance: 2,157 (336 County)