Newport County 2-0 Crawley Town
- Published
Newport and Crawley drew 1-1 in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day
Newport County maintained their place in the League Two play-off spots with a crucial win over Crawley Town.
Defender Liam Shephard scored early in the second half, with an effort from 25 yards which beat keeper Glenn Morris.
Crawley's Tom Nichols was sent-off with a minute of normal time remaining after he caught goalscorer Shephard with an elbow.
Aaron Lewis sealed the win when he fired home during the 10 minutes of time added on at the end of the game.
County are seventh and three points ahead of eighth placed Exeter City following their first victory in four games while Crawley remain 12th after their three match unbeaten run was ended.
Newport County manager Michael Flynn said:
"They were brilliant tonight but you start thinking again, when you miss so many brilliant chances as we did that it might not be our night.
"But when Liam Shephard scores a deflected goal maybe it is your night and the obviously Aaron Lewis at the end with a great finish. I don't care who scores.
"We've got another tough game on Saturday now."