NEWPORT County’s last game before learning if they've become a fan-owned club turned into a nightmare after a horror display at Rodney Parade.

Two fantastic finishes and an assist from Wales U21 cap Gwion Edwards helped the hosts to a vital victory and one that puts daylight between County and League Two’s other strugglers on a night few County fans will forget in a hurry, hard as they will try.

In a season where the Exiles have scraped and fought even with things going against them, this was a terrifying display for supporters with County played off the park by a side in equal relegation strife and with an even deeper injury list.

There is no sugar coating to be done, no delicate way of assessing the contest other than by reflecting on the fact that the Newport looked every bit the worst side in the Football League. Fans will struggle to recall a more lifeless display in recent memory, but the 0-5 reverse to Forest Green Rovers on New Year’s Day 2013 is probably the last time Newport were so utterly out fought.

Former County assistant boss and caretaker manager Jimmy Dack was there to see it, his bald head glistening under the Rodney Parade floodlights once more as the new assistant of Crawley was greeted like a hero by the amber army, before the game at least.

“O la O la, O la O la, Jimmy Dack, Dack, Dack,” they cried, greeting Dack like an old friend, more than deserved after four years of service, a veritable lifetime in the world of professional football.

Indeed, if things had been different, either Crawley’s manager or assistant might have been in the home dug-out, Dack turning down the managerial role at Rodney Parade after initially agreeing to take it and Mark Yates one of the final three candidates interviewed at the end of last season.

The duo are also enduring a tough start to the campaign, coming into the fixture as the 91st club out of 92 in the Football League, above only the stuttering Exiles and with injury problems and budget restrictions that will sound only too familiar to Newport fans.

Boss Terry Butcher rarely has the luxury of picking from an unchanged side either, with Danny Holmes’ concussion and a need to rest teen ace Aaron Collins meaning two changes for the Exiles, with Tyler Blackwood and Scott Boden introduced to an attacking line-up.

However, arguably it was the ever increasing quality of the subs’ bench - certainly not the performance - that will have most heartened Butcher who has been working with a depleted group all campaign.

There was buoyancy at Rodney Parade, no doubt sparked by the -increasingly close-to-reality - dream of being fan owned, but the occasion was quickly spoiled when a football game broke out.

You would be forgiven if you missed it, because the County players did, producing a disastrous first half display that saw them trail 2-0 at the interval and booed off the field without mustering a single shot.

They were poor in possession, lacking width and well stifled by a resolute Crawley, with special agent Dack presumably the driving force behind squeezing the life out of Newport skipper Mark Byrne. If the rationale in the first period was stop Byrne, stop County, it worked to a tee.

However, it’s not merely enough to stifle and edge a half of football, you need to be able to put the ball in the net and sadly for Newport, and the visitors did so brilliantly in the first period thanks to Wales U21 international Gwion Edwards.

County had already been warned, Rhys Murphy forcing Joe Day to save with an acrobatic effort, before Edwards stole the show, scoring two stunning long range efforts that rocketed past Day.

His first, nine minutes before the interval, was the superior strike with defending woeful for his second, just before the break, but Day had no chance with either strike and it was undeniable that the visitors earned the half time advantage.

We expected a reaction from the Exiles, a response from players and staff, but we got nothing, if anything County more frightened of the ball in the second period than they were in the first.

The next goal was vital at 2-0 and with Newport desperately seeking a means to exert pressure, but when Edwards skipped clear again and found the head of Matt Harrold; it was game, set and match to the visitors. The fans knew it too, making their disgust clearer and clearer as the contest drifted towards its inevitable conclusion.

Byrne smashed a freekick at the wall on 78 minutes, Newport’s first real shot of the contest and goalkeeper Freddie Woodman might as well have backed a cake, so much free time did he have to consider his thoughts throughout the night. When sub Alex Rodman dragged a shot wide on 84 minutes, there was a great deal of ironic applause from the County fans.

Because by then they’d seen more than enough, even accounting for Matt Partridge finally forcing a save from Woodman with two minutes remaining, his header straight down the middle.

Newport (4-4-1-2): Day; Donacien, Partidge, Parselle (Elito 75); Twumasi, Byrne, Owen-Evans, Barrow; Boden (Rodman 63); John-Lewis (Collins 63), Blackwood

Subs not used: R Taylor, M Taylor, Elito, Klukowski, Laurent

Booked: Boden

Crawley: Woodman, Scales, Bradley, Edwards (Bawling 65), Smith (Walton 80) Young, Harrold, Jenkins, Donnelly, Yoreth, Murphy (Deacon 77)

Subs not used: Barnard, Preston, Fenelon, Henderson

Booked: Jenkins

Referee: Oliver Langford

Attendance: 2137

Argus star man: Gwion Edwards (Crawley)