League Two: Nine-man Newport County beaten 4-1 by Port Vale

The Exiles went into the Rodney Parade fixture hunting a fourth straight league success after wins versus Doncaster, Accrington and Morecambe.

However, the Valiants, with a strong squad that should lead to them being contenders, showed the perils of reading too much into August form to take the spoils 4-1 while County lost their heads as well as the game.

They showed their inexperience when things were going wrong and that will have an impact on next weekend’s short trip to Swindon, when they are likely to be without four key defenders courtesy of two suspensions to go with a pair of injuries.

County suffered a nightmare start in which influential right wing-back Shane McLoughlin limped off and then Vale exploited a defensive rejig to hit the front in the sixth minute through Jayden Stockley.

It was level-pegging in the 24th minute after rejuvenated midfielder Aaron Wildig scored for the third game on the spin with a close-range header.

However, the Valiants led at the break after Stockley, who was a menace throughout, prodded in after a cleared corner was put back into the box.

It was 3-1 just two minutes after the restart after Ethan Chislett was the beneficiary of a howler from the rejigged defence, then Lorent Tolaj swept in a fourth.

OFF: Ciaran Brennan leaves the field after being shown red for County (Image: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency)

County needed to just take their medicine but instead central defender Ciaran Brennan was red-carded, somewhat harshly, for shoving Ben Garrity.

Ten men became nine when fellow centre-back Kyle Jameson – who had already rashly attempted to handle Tolaj’s shot on the line for the fourth – was dismissed for booting the ball into the away end during a stoppage.

There were some bizarre calls by the officials throughout the game but it cannot be denied that the Exiles showed a complete lack of composure on a frustrating afternoon.

Thankfully Vale failed to twist the knife and the damage was limited ahead of the trip to Wiltshire to face a winless Swindon side.

Head coach Nelson Jardim made one enforced change to the XI that started the win in Morecambe with Cameron Evans getting a first League Two start on the right of the defensive trio in place of Matt Baker, who was absent on Wales Under-21 duty.

That plan was ripped up in the third minute when McLoughlin suffered what looked like a calf injury, leading to Evans shifting to the right and Nelson Sanca coming on in defence.

Vale promptly struck in that area with Brighton loanee Benicio Baker-Boaitey putting a cross on the money for Stockley to head in from the six-yard box.

County responded well and should have been level after a burst by Bobby Kamwa but left wing-back Anthony Glennon was denied by goalkeeper Connor Ripley, then big appeals for handball were waved away after a Kamwa effort was blocked.

The Valiants looked dangerous when crossing into the box yet it was that method that provided the leveller in the 24th minute.

LEVEL: Aaron Wildig headed Newport County back into the game against Port Vale (Image: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency)

Glennon whipped in a cracking ball and Wildig did what he has done so well throughout his career - clever run, perfect timing, headed into the ground and past the ‘keeper.

Sadly, County weren’t level for too long after a frustratingly simple goal for the Valiants.

A corner was cleared but was pumped back into the box and the ball fell for Stockley, who was proving to be a physical menace for the defence, to prod in his second.

County wasted a chance to strike back again in the first of seven added minutes when Kamwa bought a free-kick on the edge of the area by dragging his foot but then struck the wall with a poor effort.

Vale started the second half sharply and it took scrambling defence by Glennon to deny Baker-Boaitey but the third soon came.

Teenager Sanca made a mistake playing out and Lorent Tolaj played in Chislett for the simple task of rolling past the helpless Townsend.

It was four when Tolaj swept in with Jameson shown a yellow card after trying, and thankfully failing, to keep the shot out with his left hand.

The nightmare got worse approaching the hour when Brennan, on the advice of the fourth official, was shown red for gently shoving Ben Garrity into the ground while his leg was being held in an altercation by the touchline.

With half an hour to go, the Exiles needed the game to drift to an end without big damage to the goals against column.

Instead, Jameson let down his teammates by leaving them to play 23 minutes with a two-man numerical disadvantage after booting a ball into the away end because of his frustration at being prevented from getting the game restarted.

To County’s credit they kept going and went close twice when Cameron Evans narrowly failed to get onto a whipped free-kick by Glennon then Wildig hit the bar in the 81st minute with a delightful curler from distance.

Vale looked to have scored a fifth in the 87th minute when Rico Richards curled an effort towards the corner but Townsend produced (another) wonderful save to tip behind, with Garrity then heading narrowly wide.

Even visiting boss Darren Moore didn’t want the 11 minutes of added time that went up on the board and it should have been 5-1 in the first of them but Tolaj fired straight at Townsend and then slammed the rebound way over.

It was only 4-1 at the final whistle, which was something of a win on a nightmare afternoon.

County: Townsend, McLoughlin (Sanca 6), C Evans, Jameson, Brennan, Glennon, Morris, Antwi (K Evans 63), Wildig, Kamwa (Greaves 66), Baker-Richardson (Hudlin 63).

Substitutes not used: Carney, Rai, Jephcott.

Yellow: Glennon, C Evans, Jameson, Wildig.

Red: Brennan, Jameson.

Goals: Wildig.

Port Vale goals: Stockley (2), Chislett, Tolaj.

Referee: Stephen Parkinson.

Attendance: 4,851 (554 Port Vale).