The saving grace of Newport IoW's pointless and goalless start to the season had been that they hadn't played too badly.

But it would have taken rose-tinted specs of the strongest prescription to have found a bright side to Saturday's 6-0 humbling by Cray Wanderers.

"It's the worst game I've seen us play in a very long time," admitted secretary Dave Bartlett, after four-goal Lee Bremner and brace man David Gray had torn the Islanders to shreds.

And Alan Phillips, who did so much to keep the club alive with the Save Newport Action Group last season, admitted : "After seeing that, I'm actually looking forward to going into hospital for a back operation!"

During 90 torturous minutes, Newport contrived to concede more goals than they had in the previous four games put together.

Having been fairly and squarely beaten 2-0 by Croydon Athletic on the opening day, they considered themselves somewhat unlucky to fall to successive 1-0 defeats against Horsham, Metropolitan Police and Walton & Hersham.

"We are defending like a mid-table side," manager John Linington confidently penned in Saturday's programme notes, but sadly the collapse that followed had 'rock bottom' written all over it.

You can't help but feel sorry for Linington. He took over the team in difficult circumstances after Port had plunged into receivership last season and, with finances still tight, he is totally reliant on home-grown Island players, many of whom have never played higher than the Wessex League.

Bartlett admitted: "We're a young side and today we were just taken apart, no excuses at all.

"But what do you do? People say we should bring in better players, but there's a problem there - and it's called money. We can't overstretch ourselves, so we've got to compete with what we've got.

"I feel sorry for John. We had a few players out injured today and the side he put out there was all he had to choose from. I fully back the manager the same as I back the team, but it's the players who've got to turnthis around.

"Results will come, but it's how long this goes on for...

"I've seen us start the season badly before, but I don't ever recall going five games without scoring."

Ashley Wright, Luke Forrest and Adam Barsdell all came close to breaking Newport's duck, but it was Cray's four-goal marksman Bremner who laid on a finishing class with two goals in each half.

His third, a brilliant run and curling shot from the edge of the box, was the pick of the bunch, while his fourth was a defensive catastrophe for keeper Joe McCormack who, just a week earlier, had turned in a faultless display against Met Police.

Following today's trip to Banstead, the spotlight turns to Saturday's FA Cup preliminary round visit of Walton Casuals.

Bartlett admitted: "It's imperative we win that tie, both for the financial implications and for the fans."