Newport County and Bristol Rovers were meeting for the eighth time in their histories
Bristol Rovers survived Newport County's late fightback in the Severnside derby as the hosts suffered their sixth successive League Two defeat of the season.
A goalless opening period was hardly an indicator of what was to follow at Rodney Parade.
After Nik Tzanev denied Fabrizio Cavegn, but could not stop Luke Thomas scrambling the ball home to break the deadlock in the 52nd minute.
By the hour mark Thomas had added his second, pouncing on Tzanev's lax play in the goalmouth to hit the target.
It enabled visiting fans to taunt the home support, who responded with a chant summing up the Exiles' early-season form: "You're nothing special, we lose every week."
Their mood was not helped when Ellis Harrison met Alfie Chang's cross to head in, but got a lift when Kai Whitmore responded for the hosts from Nathaniel Opoku's headed cross.
As the clock ticked towards 90 minutes, Whitmore was denied before loan signing Opoku set up a grandstand finish.
However, it was all too little too late for Dave Hughes' side as Rovers found relief in the final whistle to rise four places to 12th before the rest of the day's games that could end with Newport in the relegation zone.
Hughes: 'Individual mistakes at key moments have cost us'
Clarke: "It's a fantastic win in a derby"
