Newport County 1, Crawley Town 0

Newport County kept their League Two survival hopes alive thanks to a goal by former Shrewsbury Town defender Mickey Demetriou.

They are still five points from safety with six matches to play, but they still have some hope.

County’s next fixture is against Exeter City away on Saturday.

Both sides had a player sent off during the second half. County had captain Joss Labadie dismissed, while Crawley’s former Cardiff City defender Josh Yorwerth also saw red.

Mitch Rose and Mark O’Brien returned after suspensions and both went straight back into the starting line-up with Tom Owen-Evans and Darren Jones going out.

Newport should have had a penalty after 10 minutes when Yorwerth blatantly handled, but referee Darren England waved aside appeals.

Alex Samuel and Sean Rigg both posed a threat for Newport, but it was Demetriou who scored the crucial goal.

The defender intercepted a Crawley pass and smashed his shot into goal from 25 yards for his first Newport goal.

Six minutes into the second half Labadie and Yorwerth were both sent off.

They clashed in an off-the-ball incident and were shown the red card.

Demetrio almost scored again, but his header was tipped over the bar, while Ryan Bird should have made it 2-0. He went round the goalkeeper, but missed the open goal.

County: Day; O’Brien, Bennett, Demetriou; Pipe, Labadie, Rose (Owen-Evans, 75), Butler; Rigg, Bird (Myrie-Williams, 83), Samuel (Nelson, 90)

Subs not used: Bittner, Barnum-Bobb, Randall, Gordon

Referee: Darren England

Attendance: 2,946 (113 Crawley)

Newport County’s remaining fixtures (6)

April

Saturday 8 v Exeter City (away)

Friday 14 v Yeovil Town (home)

Monday 17 v Plymouth Argyle (away)

Saturday 22 v Accrington Stanley (home)

Saturday 29 v Carlisle United (away)

May

Saturday 6 v Notts County (home)