THE stench of relegation has returned with a vengeance to Newport County as they slipped into the drop zone of the Nationwide South on Saturday following their 3-1 home defeat to Eastbourne Borough.

County's fragile squad has shown signs in recent weeks that they might just be able to stay up, but the harsh reality is that if they don't strengthen, the reek will get even worse.

Robbed of Jamie Moralee and Chris Curran before kick-off to flu and a calf strain respectively, the departures of centre-backs Scot Morgan and Andrew Thomas to injuries ended any hopes of them getting anything against a side who, similar to most in the division, were big, strong, well organised and experienced.

County, on the other hand, are none of these things and can barely afford to lose one experienced player, let alone four.

No disrespect to the young players, who are earning pennies and busting guts to keep their heads above water, and at times on Saturday they threatened to get something out of this encounter, but to ask them to keep County up is frankly not fair.

On a freezing afternoon at Spytty Park this match took an age to heat up and the first period saw little in the way of chances.

County were playing a similar formation to last week's 0-0 draw at Grays, with five at the back, and with the midfield sitting pretty deep, the front two of Jason Bowen and Chad Bond were at times isolated figures.

Any chances created by the Exiles had to be fashioned by the pair of them, but they did link up well on occasions and the visitors twice had to clear off the line from in-form Jason Bowen.

With neither side gaining control, it was slightly harsh that County fell behind after 38 minutes.

Matthew Morris conceded a free kick on the left flank and from Danny Simmonds' cross, Danny Chapman was not tracked and his flick was blocked by an instinctive Andrew Delve parry.

But the ball rebounded straight to the unmarked Scott Ramsey, who tucked it home. A further blow arrived when Scott Morgan failed to reappear after the break, suffering from a dead leg. And it went from bad to worse when seven minutes later Andrew Thomas went down clutching his right ankle, and and he was eventually stretchered off.

Ashley Williams became the auxiliary centre-back but could not do much as Eastbourne doubled their lead on 63 minutes.

County failed to clear their lines and Ollie Rowland whipped in a cross that arrived at the feet of Matt Crabb, the winger wasting no time in lashing the ball into the net.

Two minutes later County responded, this time Bowen's clipped header could not be cleared off the line as Eastbourne defender Ben Austin could only jab the ball onto his own post and it crept over.

That gave the Exiles a glimmer of hope, but that was extinguished just six minutes later when a huge hoof up the field by Borough goalkeeper Lee Hook was not dealt with, and speed merchant Yemi Odubade raced in and headed over Delve. The stuffing was well and truly knocked out of County, but they did keep plugging away with Nathan Davies' drive flashing wide and John Phillips being denied by Hook at the death.

But it would not have mattered as the visitors rarely looked too threatened as they saw out time.

County: Delve, Morris, L Phillips, D Jones, Thomas (G Jones 52), Morgan (O'Sullivan 45), Davies, Williams, Bond (J Phillips 62), Bowen, Hooper. Subs not used: Evans, Passmore. Booked: D Jones (foul 55). Eastbourne: Hook, Baker, Warner, Smart, Chapman, Austin (Smith 84), Odubade (Fazackerly 78), Crabb (Tuck 76), Ramsey, Simmonds, Rowland. Subs not used: D Williams, Lightfoot. Booked: Ramsey (foul 88). Referee: J Cox (Evesham). Attendance: 526.

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NEWPORT County manager John Cornforth has blasted Chester City over the handling of the Cortez Belle affair, writes Michael Gannon.

The former Merthyr hitman was due to start a month's loan deal at Spytty Park in Saturday's match against Eastbourne, but his club called him back at the last minute.

"Cortez has been training with us for the last three weeks and he was going to start on Saturday," Cornforth said. "All of a sudden I get a call on Thursday from Chester, calling him back because of injuries.

"Supporters are coming and saying we need a big strong player up front but I had one. "In those three weeks I could have brought in someone else and I felt that we have been used. "He would have been ideal today."

Cornforth was speaking after his side's 3-1 defeat to Eastbourne Borough, a result that saw County slip into the relegation zone in the Nationwide South.

Being without striker Jamie Moralee and defender Chris Curran did not help, but the subsequent injuries to centre-backs Scott Morgan and Andrew Thomas made it a day to forget all round.

"It was a horrendous day," Cornforth lamented. "Jamie was out and Chris Curran was a massive miss because we have only conceded one goal in his four games.

"We were playing against a side who are well up that league and with an average age of about 27 years old we got bullied a bit.

"We had three shots cleared off the line but that is not to say we played well because we didn't."

He added: "Obviously losing two centre-halves has left us with players playing out of position and it was one of those days when I was thinking, 'what else can go wrong?'

"After all the hard work in the last few weeks we are still in the mire at the bottom, and it is up to me as a manager to ask the board for money to bring players in. We need bodies, simple as that."

Cornforth revealed that he will not be reading the riot act despite the defeat. He said: "These young lads have never been through a relegation fight and I think you get more rewards with the carrot rather than the stick.

"We need to reassess for next week."