NEWPORT County AFC manager Terry Butcher was left to rue the missed chances and sloppy defending that cost his side a deserved point in a five-goal thriller against Leyton Orient.

The Exiles showed great character to come back from 2-0 down after only seven minutes to level with two goals in just over 60 seconds before the break.

But, despite dominating for much of the second half it was league leaders Orient who snatched all three points with the winner just before the hour mark from star man Dean Cox.

The visitors made a blistering start as goals from Paul McCallum Jay Simpson put them in control.

McCallum and Dean Cox could have extended their advantage but Scott Boden and County captain Mark Byrne earned the hosts parity at the break.

“It feels terrible,” said Butcher. “I really thought we deserved a lot more from the game.

“We came out in the second half and dominated it and they scored their third goal totally against the run of play.

“We’ve had chances to equalise at the end and apart from the first 25 minutes we had control of the game.

“We’re just bitterly disappointed that again we’ve let good opportunities slip by.

“The win will come and obviously we want it to come soon but we played some good football again against a team who are top of the table and a team that has had a lot of money spent on it.”

Orient manager Ian Hendon admitted his side were lucky to take the three points that maintained their 100 per cent record at the start of the League Two season.

“We had to work hard to keep the run going,” said a relieved O’s boss.

“We started superbly with two good goals and we should have made it three when McCallum headed wide. Had that gone in then it would have killed off the game.

“But Newport came back and made it difficult for us. It was a tough second half because they were in the ascendancy but Cox popped up to get the third and then it was a case of hanging on.

“We probably didn’t deserve the win because Newport were more than worthy of a point but we have to be happy with digging out a win away from home and we couldn’t have wished for a better start to the season.”

County, who travel to Plymouth Argyle next Saturday, are in 23rd place in the table with just one point from four games.