Newport fell victims to the Malvern jinx – suffering a fourth consecutive defeat against their Worcestershire rivals to lose ground in the National League Three Midlands promotion race.

The visitors from Forton Road let a winning position slip in the final 20 minutes, eventually falling to a 28-15 defeat.

“We were 15-14 up with a quarter of the game to go and we felt we should have gone on from there and sealed the win,” said team manager Gareth Davies.

“Unfortunately we made a few basic errors and that enabled them to get up the other end and score.

“The forwards played particularly well but it’s an 80-minutes game and we didn’t play for 80 minutes,” he added.

“Until we learn to do that we won’t put sides away.”

Newport opened up a 10-point lead in the first half hour, taking the lead when Jamie Simpson kicked an 18th minute penalty.

Toby Mann then burst through three attempted tackles to score on the left and Simpson kicked the conversion.

Malvern closed the gap with a converted score of their own just before half-time and then went ahead with a repeat straight from the re-start.But Newport reclaimed the lead on 57 minutes, Joe Carpenter stretching over in the corner after some excellent driving play from the forwards.

Malvern turned over possession for the try that put them back in front and made the most of a loose pass to score a fourth try and claim a bonus point.

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Hereford’s match against South Leicester was postponed due to a frozen pitch at Wyeside.

It was Hereford’s fifth postponement of the season.

This now leaves the Wyesiders to face rearranged games against Scunthorpe, Malvern, Luton, Broadstreet and South Leicester.