THE rain fell from the heavens at Spytty Park on Saturday and how Newport County failed to beat Carshalton, God only knows.

Despite the visitors being down to ten men for most of the second half and County dominating play for the entire match, Carshalton miraculously still managed to leave with a 1-0 victory.

This was Newport County boss John Cornforth's first taste of defeat and he will seldom see a match played in worse conditions, with flippers and snorkels likely to be more effective than football boots, as the pitch started off completely sodden and degenerated as the match wore on.

To County's credit, they did try to keep the passing game, which the new boss advocates, going and although at times they got bogged down, some decent moves were carved out in the first half.

Early doors Lee Phillips broke forward to tee up Jamie Moralee via Jonathan Coates but his shot went wide.

Moments later Coates had a fierce drive flash just wide and then John Phillips went close when he headed narrowly past after Carshalton 'keeper Josh Lennie got himself in all kinds of trouble with a back pass.

The visitors did not look up to much but gave a reminder that County were in a game when Adrian Stone fed Andy Sullivan and his shot was rifled straight at Andrew Delve.

The young County 'keeper has returned from Caldicot in the absence of the injured Roger Freestone and he held the shot superbly and continued to handle impressively all afternoon in horrific conditions.

Newport had a decent penalty shout waved away after Jason Bowen looked to have been tripped in the box but nothing was given.

With County well on top, the Carshalton goal just after the half-hour mark came something of a surprise but unsurprisingly the rain-battered pitch played a part.

Carshalton midfielder Andy Sullivan lashed a cross-ball across the face of County's goal and Scott Morgan made a desperate slide tackle to block striker Nic McDonnell six yards out, but he skidded on the greasy surface leaving the ball stuck behind, allowing McDonnell to tee up Sam Saunders to slot into the net.

County continued to press and Jonathan Coates had a shot flash just wide and a header that looped over while John Phillips had a stinging drive brilliantly saved by Lennie as it was starting to look like one of those days.

The second period followed a familiar pattern and County seemed to be handed the advantage when McDonnell was shown a red card for elbowing Darren Jones.

Newport continued to press but squandered yet more chances.

Phillips drew a decent stop out of Lennie and Bowen's dangerous cross was missed by everyone inside the six-yard box before substitute Neil Powell, making his debut after a move from Leicester, whipped in a dangerous ball that Lee Phillips just could not turn goalward.

At the other end Delve had to brilliantly block a Saunders header as Carshalton hit on the break.

As conditions worsened, if that was possible, Darren Jones saw a free kick deflect agonisingly wide and then Gethyn Jones' bouncing bomb had Lennie in a flap.

As the match stumbled to a conclusion it became painfully apparent that the it would take an intervention from the Almighty Himself for County to score but unfortunatley for the 665 brave souls in the crowd, He would not oblige.

Manager Cornforth must be praying that his side's luck will change soon as they now sit an alarming fifth from bottom in the Nationwide South.

Newport County: Delve, Ahern-Evans (Powell 64), L Phillips, G Jones, D Jones, Morgan, Bowen (Evans 86), Williams, Moralee (c), J Phillips, Coates (Wilson-Denis 77). Booked: G Jones (15 foul). Carshalton Ath: Lennie, Hartburn, Costello, Boateng, Saunders, Sullivan (Wood 57), Carrol (c), York, Stone (Harding 77), McDonnell, Patterson (Eilliott 57). Booked: Sullivan (29 foul), Saunders (86 dissent). Sent off: McDonnell (49 dangerous play). Referee: A Graves (Weston-super-Mare).