Newport County 0 Worcester City 4

NEWPORT County slumped to their second successive 4-0 home defeat on Saturday as Worcester City came to Spytty Park and duly left with all of the points.

It could have been so different for County but the result is one which they will be hoping to forget.

Peter Nicholas' side started brightly and had plenty of the ball and also some decent chances.

Garry Shephard went close early on, but he just could not steer the ball into the net from a tight angle under pressure.

John Phillips and Steve Williams also went close, and a couple of strong penalty shouts came and went as Williams looked to have firstly been held back and then chopped in the box, but both claims were waved away by the referee.

County's game plan changed as Jamie Moralee, heavily involved in the opening stages, limped off with a hamstring injury and his absence was crucial.

Then, with County looking on top, Worcester opened the scoring on 37 minutes.

A floated free kick was nodded down by Barry Wooley, and Worcester captain Carl Heely prodded the ball into the corner of the County net.

The second half started with County on the offensive, but Worcester were looking dangerous on the break, and this proved to undo Newport after 57 minutes.

A long ball from the City was flicked on by the towering Mark Owen into the path of Leon Kelly, who got to the ball before the onrushing Duncan Roberts.

He got free of the 'keeper, and despite almost taking the ball too far wide, he managed to steer it into the empty net, leaving County shell-shocked.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of Nicholas' side, and their play deteriorated in tandem with the Spytty Park pitch.

They flirted with a revival, but struggled against the size and strength of the Worcester side, who added to their tally after another break forced County defender Jeff Eckhardt into pulling down Mark Owen in the box.

The referee pointed to the spot and Eckhardt was given an early bath.

Duncan Roberts managed to save the resultant spotkick, but Owen reacted first and fired home the rebound.

It summed up County's afternoon, and in stoppage time the woe was confounded when Worcester's Adam Wilde seized on defensive confusion to slide in the fourth goal.

County had gone from domination to capitulation, and will have to pick themselves up for their trip to Cambridge next Saturday.

Newport County: D Roberts, T Evans, G Lloyd (c), N Davies, J Eckhardt, S Morgan, S Williams (S O'Sullivan 71), G Jones, J Moralee (J Phillips 20), G Shephard, G Phillips.

Subs not used: Lloyd Stone, A Stevenson, G Wesson.