Newport County manager Tim Harris was left fuming after watching his side gift Weymouth a 2-1 win in the pouring rain.

County surrendered this season's undefeated home record far too easily as they gave away two sloppy goals thanks mainly to the Jekyll and Hyde performance of Jeff Eckhardt.

The former Cardiff City player was caught out badly for the crucial second goal when ambling back in defence and was stripped of the ball by Weymouth's David Laws.

By the time Eckhardt responded, Laws had beaten Newport goalkeeper Pat Mountain and scored with an hour gone, adding to his earlier goal.

This winning goal was a true gift, a complete howler, and made County's defence - so impressive on paper - look naive.

Another poor defensive performance now presents Tim Harris with some tough decisions to make as Newport travel to Woking on Saturday for a place in the first round proper of the FA Cup.

Mountain is playing well in goal, but is being badly let down by those in defence. Harris, angry and blunt, chose his words carefully and clearly had much more he really wanted to say.

He seethed: "We gifted them the game, just as we did at their ground earlier in the season. They must love playing us.

"We can not continue giving games away, we have conceded some very poor goals, it's so frustrating to have just thrown away another game."

With more than 500 league games behind him, Eckhardt has the experience to be a true asset to County and he showed glimpses of quality last night at Spytty Park.

In the first half, he put in a truly fantastic tackle to dispossess Weymouth's Lee Phillips deep in the penalty area, coming from nowhere to pull off a superb copy book tackle. But minutes later he allowed David Laws enough time and space to launch a deft chip, conceding the lead to Weymouth just before half-time.

A good and balanced first half for both sides led to a poor second period with Weymouth content to sit back as County pressed forward, but the driving rain made conditions difficult.

After the second goal blunder, Harris brought on Steve Cowe and Ryan Souter, pushing Eckhardt up front alongside Martin Paul, whose persistence infront of goal won Newport a penalty.

The former Bath City striker took the kick well, putting County level after 74 minutes and his deft flick shortly after so nearly allowed Eckhardt to redeem himself. With time fading, midfielder Stuart James managed to land yet another cross in the penalty area and Paul glanced the header across Eckhardt's body, who just could not get the vital connection needed to put County level.

It was too little too late and sums up Newport's season so far. They look good at times, but they can certainly give away soft goals at vital moments. Ideas of promotion now look more like illusions of grandeur.

Newport County's Amber Army supporters are running a bus to Saturday's FA Cup match at Woking. Costing £10 for adults, £7 for under-16s and £8 for OAPs, the bus leaves from outside Newport bus station at 9.30am. To book, call 01495 200555.

PICTURED: Newport County's Steve Cowe attempts to take on two Weymouth defenders.