Newport suffer major blow in defeat to relegation rivals Crawley

Crawley maintained their 100 per cent start to life under new manager Colin Kazim-Richards as a quickfire brace from Harry McKirdy earned them a 2-0 win at Newport.

The crucial victory moved Crawley up to 20th in the League Two and left relegation rivals County just one point clear of the bottom two.

The Welsh side had a goal disallowed for a handball from Bobby Kamwa before the break, but it was the visitors who always looked the more likely to break the deadlock in a tight contest.

And it was former Exiles loanee McKirdy who proved the central figure as he converted Ade Adeyemo’s cross from the right to open the scoring in the 57th minute.

And two minutes later he nipped in at the far post to head in Harry Forster’s cross from the left from very close range.

Kamwa had a big chance to half the deficit soon afterwards when he was put through one-on-one, but he was denied by Crawley goalkeeper Jacob Chapman.