RUSSELL Penn’s sending off proved the turning point as York City slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Newport.

The Minstermen skipper was shown a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on home midfielder Lee Minshull just moments after the restart, having been booked for dissent late in the first half.

City were leading 1-0 at the time thanks to an eighth-minute goal from on-loan debutant Diego de Girolamo but, without their captain, the visitors were sunk by goals from Andrew Hughes, Chris Zebroski and Darren Jones.

Italian under-19 international De Girolamo opened the scoring on eight minutes, collecting Keith Lowe’s quickly free kick into the penalty box before spinning to beat home keeper Joe Day with the aid of a deflection from 12 yards.

Newport’s best chance of the second period came seconds before the break when Michael Ingham made a smart save to push Zebroski’s far-post header over his crossbar.

It was the last contribution from an unwell Ingham, who was replaced by Jason Mooney at the break.

After Penn’s moment of madness, Mooney was then beaten by a low shot into his bottom left-hand corner by Hughes after Lindon Meikle had failed to cut out a Minshull through ball.

Meikle then squandered an excellent opportunity at the other end when he tamely lobbed into Day’s hands after finding himself clear on goal through the right channel.

An awfully underhit back pass by Marvin McCoy went on to gift Newport the lead on 64 minutes with Zebroski waltzing past an exposed Mooney before rolling the ball into an empty net.

Jones’ 20-yard thunderbolt that crashed in off Mooney’s crossbar on 71 minutes completed a miserable afternoon for Nigel Worthington’s Minstermen, following a start that had promised so much more.