Newport head coach Nelson Jardim admitted that his players let their emotions get the better of them as they were thumped 4-1 at home by Port Vale and ended the match with nine men.
Jayden Stockley headed the visitors in front in only the sixth minute and poked in a second nine minutes before the break after Aaron Wildig had briefly drawn County level when he nodded in on 24 minutes.
Ethan Chislett and Lorent Tolaj took advantage of a vulnerable Exiles defence to extend Vale’s lead to 4-1 before the hour mark.
And the hosts then lost their heads as Ciaran Brennan was shown a straight red for an off-the-ball confrontation with Ben Garrity before Kyle Jameson picked up a second yellow card for kicking the ball into the away fans.
“Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” admitted Jardim.
“From the beginning, I had to take Shane McLoughlin off and you don’t want to change your back five. Straight after that they scored.
“You could see that we have a lot to improve, especially in controlling our emotions. We were too emotional and the sendings-off were down to that.
“I just want to make sure my players don’t do it again because if they do then they probably will not have another chance. It’s about making them learn from the mistakes and improving.
“It was a bad day at the office. We knew that having a lot of new, young players that would happen.
“I would rather lose one game 4-1 than four in a row.”
Vale boss Darren Moore praised his players for some ruthless finishing and for maintaining their discipline in a febrile atmosphere at Rodney Parade.
“It was a solid away performance and we got the three points that we wanted,” said Moore.
“We came to get the right result and we got that. It was a good performance, a solid performance, and I thought we saw what the team is capable of – in glimpses.
“I thought we were excellent from the word go. We made a fast start and it was really difficult for Newport to get any momentum.
“Credit to the players, even when it went to 1-1 we regained our composure and deservedly won the game. And even with the two sendings-off, our boys kept their heads and made sure that we kept 11 players on the pitch.
“When others are losing their heads, you have to make sure you don’t get caught up with the atmosphere and I thought the players did that really well.
“I hope the Vale fan who got hit by the ball is OK.”
