NEWPORT County's hopes of recording only their second win of the season were washed away by the rain at Maidenhead United.

The match was level at 3-3 when referee Antony Coggins abandoned play on 56 minutes due to a waterlogged pitch.

The Exiles looked capable of grabbing a win but the decision was undoubtedly the right one.

Such was the ferocity of the torrential rain on the drive along the M4 that County fans could have been forgiven for thinking the end of the world was nigh and their mood didn't improve when the home side took the lead in only the second minute.

Flying winger Dale Binns, who caused County so many problems last year with Lewes, gave Erwin Sak no chance with a vicious left-foot drive from the edge of the area after outpacing Ashley Vickers and Kevin Stephens in the centre of the Exiles defence.

It was exactly the start County didn't want with their confidence already fragile but they responded well and dominated the majority of the first period.

Striker Rob Duffy had a plausible penalty appeal waved away after 13 minutes and 60 seconds later Craig Hughes fired in an equaliser.

Danny Rose cut in from the left and hit a shot straight at Hughes and in the resulting melee the ball rebounded to the County number 10 who hit a sweet right-foot effort into the corner of the Maidenhead net.

Duffy and Paul Hall went close as the visitors took control and Maidenhead were lucky to still have 11 players on the pitch after Grant Cooper hacked down Duffy and Richard Pacquette clattered into Sak, both receiving cautions.

But, just as it seemed that the teams would go in level at the break, Maidenhead skipper Ashley Nicholls let fly with a speculative effort on 44 minutes which Sak got a hand to but could only palm into the net.

The Exiles' second equaliser came from Rose five minutes after the break when Hughes squeezed in a shot from wide on the right and the former Manchester United trainee slid in to hammer home on the line.

The game then descended into a farce as the continuous deluge made the pitch unplayable.

Vickers back-pass to Sak held up in the water and the home side were 3-2 up as Pacquette fired home and two minutes later it was 3-3 as Paul Hall got on the end of a long cross from David Collins.

With no signs of the rain stopping and water spraying two feet in the air with every challenge, Coggins had no option but to call a halt to proceedings and Dean Holdsworth will hope his squad is in much healthier shape when the match comes to be replayed.

County: Sak, Jenkins, Collins, Davies, Vickers (captain), Stephens, Rose, A. Church, Duffy, Hughes, Hall.

Subs not used: Walsh, Cooper, Harris, Colborne, N. Church.

Maidenhead: Gore, T. Smith, Bernard (Fyfield, 50), Hinds, Stirling, Cooper, A. Smith, Nicholls (c), Pacquette, Tyriaki, Binns.

Subs not used: James, Nisbet, Bradshaw, Behzadi