A sloppy Newport County side were well beaten by Accrington Stanley 4-1 to damage their League Two survival hopes.

It took just two minutes for the visitors to silence the home fans at Rodney Parade as Alex Henderson capitalised on a defensive error to drive past Jordan Wright into the bottom corner.

County got a deserved equaliser in the 35th minute after some clever footwork and a smart cross from Harrison Biggins found Nathaniel Opoku, who headed home from close range.

Pressure from Isaac Sinclair led to an ugly mix-up between Wright and Ryan Delaney, resulting in Accrington regaining the lead in the 51st minute.

Things went from bad to worse for Newport when Opoku was shown a second yellow card for going studs up into Paddy Madden's stomach in the 69th minute.

As 10-man Newport threw men forward to chase the game, the visitors took advantage with two late goals through Madden and Isaac Heath, consigning the Exiles to their 17th league loss of the season.

Results elsewhere went in County's favour and they remain a point off safety - with a huge game at relegation rivals Bristol Rovers on Saturday (12:30 GMT).

Accrington are 14th after they continued their good form with a fourth win in their past six matches.

Having beaten Chesterfield at home just three days earlier, this was a chance for Newport to build momentum and climb out of the relegation zone for the first time in nearly four months.

Before the game boss Christian Fuchs suggestd that, with 20 league games still to go, his side were not in a relegation battle.

But this performance indicated they are.

Despite a nightmare start, Fuchs would have been pleased with his side's reaction as County fought hard to get back into the game.

Newport found most of their joy in the first half down the right-hand side, much of it orchestrated by impressive January loan signing Harrison Biggins.

The 29-year-old was central to a lot of County's dangerous attacks and his tireless running helped set up Opoku to get the Exiles back in the game.

That was, however, as good as it got for Newport.

Three goals conceded, and an Opoku red card, resulted in a costly second half.

Fuchs' side were not able to maintain the same control they offered in the first 45 minutes and a messy mistake from Wright and Delaney opened the floodgates to what was a fragile defence.

Newport's season was never going to be decided here but with Bristol Rovers and Shrewsbury Town also losing, a win would have pushed the Welsh side up to 21st - and even a draw would have been enough to lift them out of the bottom two.

Instead, after the joint-heaviest loss of his tenure, Fuchs may have to face up to the reality that even with 19 games to go, his side might be in a relegation battle.