Fleetwood Town struck twice just before half-time as Newport County's winless run at Rodney Parade continued.

The match promised goals, with both sides having kept just two clean sheets in the league all season.

The visitors broke the deadlock in the 45th minute when Finley Potter found space to head the ball past Newport goalkeeper Jordan Wright.

Fleetwood doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time as Ryan Graydon scored his seventh goal of the season.

Newport's task was made harder in the second half when Michael Spellman was shown a second yellow card.

Victory sees Fleetwood move up to 11th in League Two, while Newport remain rooted to the bottom.

The opening 25 minutes saw a back-and-forth contest, with both sides pushing to make the breakthrough.

Christian Fuchs' side created chances but were unable to capitalise, Spellman coming closest after cutting inside and rattling the crossbar from 20 yards out.

Fleetwood also went close early on when Wright produced a brilliant save to keep out Potter.

But the Cods made their pressure count before the break, as Potter headed home an excellent floated cross from defender Ethan Ennis.

And just four minutes later, intricate play between Lewis McCann and Mark Helm set up Graydon, who dinked the ball past Wright to make it 2-0.

The travelling Fleetwood supporters who made the 448-mile round trip were rewarded with victory, while the home crowd at Rodney Parade's wait for a home win in the league continues.

Newport County head coach Christian Fuchs told BBC Radio Wales: "We don't help ourselves when we don't do the basics right from set-pieces. We don't track the runner, don't keep our marks, that's obviously a mistake that we should not make.

"Then, unfortunately, on a transition where before we made fouls in the right moments, we just let the player go — we don't help ourselves.

"I think the team started bright and was dominating the game for the first 42 minutes. Then it's those two moments and the red card that make life very hard for ourselves.

"We need to point the finger at ourselves. We'll analyse it, but we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and see where we can get better individually and collectively."