This was a poor performance by Newport as injury-hit Aberavon turned pressure into points, even though they scored only two tries.

Playing with a Tonmawr scrum-half at centre for an hour and a veteran flanker at lock for half an hour, Aberavon dominated possession and the ball Newport did win was lost by a mixture of overelaboration and unforced errors.

Coach Dai Rees refused to blame the referee, or the wind that seemed to drop when at Newport's back in the second half.

"We won the toss and decided to play against the wind," said Rees. "But we are conceding over 20 penalties a game and that's not good enough. Aberavon deserved the win and we gave a disappointing performance.

"It was bad for us and for our supporters, but there will be bad days and defeats for every side in the Premier Division this season as it will be a much closer affair.

"The wind had no real bearing on the result. Aberavon were good tactically and we have to get over this before we meet Neath on Saturday. We will be looking for our 40th straight home win, and have not lost at Rodney Parade since being a semi-professional team."

If the backs made mistakes, then the forwards also gave second best to a good home pack, though Sam Waldron was dazed long before coming off in the 60th minute, just one minute after full back Ricky Williams had to be led off.

A 22-7 interval lead did not look enough as Newport restarted as if they meant business, but knocked on when a try looked likely, and then Will Kershaw-Naylor broke through man after man, only to be tackled inches short.

Even after being 28-7 behind, it still appeared that the game had not gone, but even the normally excellent Rhys Jones had a quiet game and Rees used all his seven replacements.

Aberavon fly-half Jamie Davies landed nine of his ten penalty shots, yet James Ireland went over unopposed after three minutes for Aled Thomas to convert and lead 7-3.

Flanker Simon Peters (35 mins) and scrum-half Danny Hawkins (83 mins) notched the home tries after good forward pressure, and though Newport went close on a few occasions, they made crucial errors.

Saturday should see the game of the day as both Newport and Neath have won four out of five and neither will be far away when the season ends.

ABERAVON: G Knox, R Carter, J Leyshon (R Morgan 20), David Hawkins, P Bamsey, J Davies, Dan Hawkins, M Harris (L Howell 69), C Richards (C Wells 75), P Breeze (A Edwards 40), R Gierat (C Kinsey 50), C Gittins (capt), I Moore (M Kelly 76), R Morris, S Peters. Scorers: Tries - S Peters, Dan Hawkins; Con - J Davies; Pens - J Davies (9).

NEWPORT: R Williams (D Griffiths 59), G Chapman, R Shorney (capt), R Payne, W Kershaw-Naylor, A Thomas, J Ireland (M Thomas 78), D Pattison, L Jones (R James 67), P Osborne (G McCarthy 72), M Veater (N Watkins 72), M Workman, S Waldron (R Dale 60), R Jones, M Popham (P Williams 60). Scorers: Try - J Ireland; Con - A Thomas. Yellow card - Rhys Shorney (53-63). Referee - Gareth Simmonds (Cardiff).