James Waite's goal was not enough as Newport went down 2-1 to Crawley Town on Good Friday.
A buoyant home crowd of over 5,000 at Rodney Parade saw County start brightly with Finn Azaz having a cross/shot from the left of the box collected by Glenn Morris in the Crawley goal.
The Red Devils took hold of the first half from then though and went 1-0 up on the quarter--hour mark when Ashley Nadesan seized on a defensive mix-up to stab home from close range.
Crawley were 2-0 up through Ludwig Francillette who finished from inside the area after a short corner routine from John Yems' side on 21 minutes.
County came close to halving the deficit two minutes later but his well-struck half-volley from the edge of the area was saved by Morris.
A bit of penalty box pinball almost led to County getting back in the game, but Crawley managed to clear their lines as far as Jake Cain who then curled over from the edge of the box.
Before the first half came to an end, Kwesi Appiah had a close-range header held by Joe Day and George Francombe struck wide from distance.
Newport got back into the contest just before the hour when Telford's low ball across the pitch from the right picked out James Waite who slotted home in a one-on-one situation.
Aaron Lewis had an effort from the edge of the box held by Morris as County pushed for the leveller while Azaz struck wide from the left of the area.
Telford tried the spectacular to drag County level with an ambitious attempt from just inside the Crawley half - trying a long-range lob to catch out Morris who was off his line but the Crawley keeper was equal to it.
County didn't come any closer to equalising than the 82nd minute though when second half sub Rob Street headed Mickey Demetriou's deep cross from the left just wide of the right post.
Cameron Norman and Telford would both flick headers wide as the much-needed second goal evaded County.
Newport County: Joe Day, Cameron Norman, James Clarke, Mickey Demetriou (C), Aaron Lewis, Scot Bennett, Jake Cain (Lewis Collins '83), Finn Azaz, James Waite, Dom Telford, Courtney Baker-Richardson (Rob Street '58)
Subs not used: Nick Townsend, Ryan Haynes, Matt Dolan, Kevin Ellison
Crawley Town: Glenn Morris, George Francombe (C), Ludwig Francillette, Joel Lynch (Jordan Tunnicliffe '69), James Tilley, Jack Payne, Jake Hessenthaler, Will Ferry, Kwesi Appiah (Sam Matthews '62), Ashley Nadesan (Isaac Hutchinson '90), Tom Nichols
Subs not used: Archie Davies, Taylor Seymour, Mark Marshall
