They dominated possession and an number of uncompromising challenges showed how up for the game the players were. One such challenge, on keeper Mountain, by Milsom earned the striker a yellow card, although there was little indication of the trouble to come. For all this early dominance the only time Mountain as really tested was from a Foster shot and slowly the home side began to get into the game. Paul was denied by an excellent Kemp tackle on 18 minutes and also saw a header deflected away for a corner. It was clear the first goal was going to be vital and with 33 minutes gone Newport struck. There was little danger when Thomas collected the ball in the midfield but his pass towards Wyatt was intercepted by Walker. He carried it forward before finding Paul and he fired past Hervin to register his first goal in Newport colours. And Paul was at the centre of the action two minutes later as the game exploded into life. A challenge between Thomas and Paul saw the players square up. As he had done on a number of occasions at City, the ex-Bristol Rovers striker threw himself to the ground as soon as minimal contact was made by Thomas. By the time the referee had consulted with his linesman and brandished a red card at Thomas, Paul had made a miraculous recovery and was involved with heated discussions with Hervin and Thorne, both aware that his theatrics had left City facing an uphill battle to get back into the game. And, with the incident finally beginning to subside, it got worse for City as Zabek also saw red for comments aimed at Paul and the referee. Suddenly in the sapce of three minutes City had gifted their opponents the lead and been reduced to nine men but, showing the sort of commitment that was so absent at the end of last season, they never gave up. The first aim was clearly to survive to the interval without any further damage and despite rarely getting out of their half they achieved this without too much difficulty.

Their reshuffled formation saw Milsom drop back into midfield and Foster left up front on his own, although Gosling did try to get forward to support him on the rare occasion that City broke forward. A series of corners at the beginning of the half were dealt with by the excellent Kemp and Towler, with just a Paul header going close to increasing County's advantage. Despite their long periods of possession the home side were clearly getting fustrated at their inability to breach City's back line and this fustration was increased as City carved out a couple of openings themsleves. A strong run by Foster saw his shot fly narrowly wide with Mountain beaten and a a number of long throws by Thorne also caused difficulties in the Newport area. As the game reached it closing stages City brought on fresh legs in Bartlett, Mills and Allison, although there was little sign of the players tiring despite their numerical disadvantage. A Walker cross almost defeated Hervin but came back of the bar before City created their final chance to grab an unlikely equaliser. A corner was flicked on by Milsom to Towler but he couldn't get any power behind his shot and Mountain managed to smother the ball. The final whistle saw City's players given a great ovation by their fans, understanding that despite the defeat it was a excellent performance in the face of Paul's behaviour, and it now reamains to be seen whether the next three meetings between the sides can live up to the first.