IF defeat to Dagenham and Redbridge extinguished County’s promotion aspirations, if we are brutally honest, it was entirely appropriate.

The Exiles, who produced a spirited display that merited more, were ultimately undone by an inability to take their chances and a failure to remain composed at the back for a full 90 minutes. The story of Saturday, the story of the season since Justin Edinburgh departed and arguably, even before then.

The Exiles had enough chances and set-pieces on Saturday to have led three or four nil by the time they gift-wrapped Dagenham a goal and by the time they composed themselves enough to mount a comeback, they’d gone 3-0 down.

It never rains in Newport, it only ever pours.

We knew Ismail Yakubu and Max Porter would miss the remainder of the campaign, but we didn’t know that Darren Jones (shoulder) and Lee Minshull (muscle injury) would also be absent on an occasion where the grit and tenacity of both was sorely required.

Throw in the long-term injuries to Andrew Hughes and Robbie Willmott and the horrendous situation Newport found themselves in with Chris Zebroski and it was a wonder the Exiles could muster a starting XI of senior players on Saturday, with half the bench made up of soon-to-be youth graduates.

There will be plenty of time to assess where it has all gone wrong and what comes next for the Exiles, but Saturday was almost painful in its predictability, the Exiles on the front foot for so long, but lacking the quality to get the goal their possession merited.

The Exiles took a while to get going and were restricted to half efforts, but Yan Klukowski did flash wide with a first time volley after nice combination play between Mark Byrne and Ryan Jackson. Byrne being contracted for next season is a positive you can’t overstate.

The visitors were playing for little more than pride and their flat 4-5-1 stifled the Exiles, Dagenham defending deep and using their aerial advantage to frustrate Newport, let down time and time again in the first period by their final ball.

They were utilising the pace and directness of Ryan Jackson but not enough, the former Macclesfield man had his fullback on toast and the visitors couldn’t even stop him by doubling up on the marking. Newport might not be ready for League One, but Jackson surely is.

It wasn’t until the stroke of half time when Newport really looked like breaking the deadlock, the Essex outfit failing to clear a corner as the Exiles kept the ball moving, Poole’s firmly struck cross to the far post met fully by Byrne, but Mark Cousins did brilliantly to stick out an arm and maintain the parity, repelling the ball over the bar. It was to become the story of the day.

If that save was impressive his efforts just past the hour was stunning, amazingly tipping Aaron O’Connor’s close-range effort onto the crossbar after a typically barnstorming run by Jackson and a rare perfect centre.

Suddenly the noise level in Rodney Parade was cranked up, but that only seemed to inspire the visiting goalkeeper who was at it again, tipping Regan Poole’s firm volley from an Adam Chapman corner just over the bar. The sense of impending doom was growing ever greater.

Byrne then went clear and was denied by a defender as the Exiles poured forward, but they were to be caught in the cruelest manner.

There seemed little danger when County conceded a highly debatable freekick with just over ten minutes remaining, but Ashley Hemmings got his head to the ball and powered the visitors in front, the first Daggers stab at goal in the entire contest and an entirely free header inside the six yard box. Up until December County conceded just two set-piece goals, but it feels like an avalanche have been conceded since the turn of the year.

And things soon got worse, Christian Doidge grabbing a second on the counter attack as Newport exposed themselves by over committing in attack, a cruelly ironic scorer for a side lacking goals.

Doidge is a Gwent boy and was recommended to the Exiles by Mark Aizelwood and spent a fortnight on trial at Rodney Parade only to be told “no thanks,” prompting the much publicised spat between the ex-Wales international and Justin Edinburgh.

It was only Doidge’s second goal of the season which does provide some context, but it was still a dagger to the heart for County, Doidge, of all people, who so easily could have been wearing amber.

The Exiles to their credit pushed until the final whistle, but when Cousins made a fourth fantastic save to deny Klukowski, the writing was on the wall, a point underlined when sub Alex Jukubiak added a third, giving the visitors a 100% goal to shots on target ratio.

By the time Newport launched their mini-comeback, too little and too late, veteran Jamie Cureton had missed a sitter to make it four.

Tutonda’s mazy solo effort was stunning and O’Connor’s instinctive finish a reminder of his pedigree, but it was too little, too late for County.

And sadly, even six points against York and Oxford would likely be the same story, too little, too late for the Exiles whose campaign has drifted away from them.

Newport: (3-5-2): Day, Feely, Poole, Sandell, Jackson, Tutonda, Chapman (Parker 82), Byrne, Klukowski, O’Connor, Storey (Collins 87).

Subs not used: Stephens, Jeffers, Flynn, Patten, Owen-Evans

Booked: None

Dagenham: (4-5-1): Cousins, Partridge, Widdowstone, Doe, Gayle, Howell, Hemmings (Chambers 87), Raymond (Doidge 76), Ogogo, Boucaud, Cureton

Subs not used: Moore, Yusuff, Connors, Jones

Booked: None

Referee: Andy Woolmer

Attendance: 2736