NEWPORT County AFC manager Graham Westley believes his side were once again hard done by as they went down to a 2-1 defeat at Mansfield Town this afternoon.

History repeated itself for the Exiles as, a week on from the red card for Mitch Rose and late penalty conceded at Cambridge United, they were again reduced to 10 men and were denied a point as a penalty decision went against them.

This time it was Jaanai Gordon who was sent off for two yellow cards in two minutes in the second half before Craig Reid was adjudged to have handled in the box.

Shaquile Coulthirst scored the winner from the spot for the hosts after Krystian Pearce had cancelled out Ryan Bird’s early strike in the first half.

“It’s a difficult result to take,” said Westley. “We faced a fair bit going in with [Mark] O’Brien pulling up in the warm-up and [Michael] Flynn going off so early.

“But the lads settled themselves down, got into the game well and managed to get that early goal.

“The concession was probably a fair reflection of the possession they were having at the time so we went in 1-1.

“We knew we had to be better in the second half and I thought we were.

“But again we have to talk about a turning point in a game where a sending off happens and all the momentum we were building up was halted.

“We were confident and feeling good about the way we were playing at that stage.

“The sending off really was a massive turning point and when you look at the second yellow I’m sure even their manager would say that there was no foul involved.

“For the penalty Reidy is adamant that the ball struck him in the chest.”

The defeat means County are still bottom of the table and still six points from safety ahead of next Saturday’s home clash with 23rd-placed Leyton Orient.

But the manager is still upbeat about his side’s survival hopes with 13 games to go.

“In the last 20 minutes the boys went forward and showed great character,” he said.

“It’s disappointing to have lost but we didn’t throw in the towel and our performance on the whole was fairly strong.”