A pair of late second half goals from Luke Boundford and Neil Mitchell earned Newtown a crucial win at Richmond Park and leaves Carmarthen eight points adrift at the bottom of the table.
Both managers were under pressure following poor results going into the game and Mark Aizlewood will be bracing himself for a hard slog against relegation after seeing his side beaten by their nearest rivals.
The defeat was Carmarthen’s third on the bounce and the third successive game in which they’ve failed to score.
With both teams lacking quality in the final third, a well-taken header from Robins substitute Luke Boundford finally broke the deadlock on 83-minutes.
A cool finish from Neil Mitchell, four minutes later, put the game beyond reach after he lashed the ball past Lee Idzi after the Carmarthen goalkeeper was left helpless after parrying out Jamie Reed’s powerfully driven free-kick.
Aizlewood saw his preparations disrupted even before the game had started when the late withdrawal of Craig Hanford saw Daniel Sheehan shoehorned in alongside Lee Surman in central defence, with Dave Vincent already absent.
A yellow card to Carmarthen’s Ceri Morgan for an over-zealous challenge inside the opening ten minutes set the tone for what would be a scrappy and at times desperate affair.
Neither team looked able to provide a cutting edge in the final third with Carmarthen gaining little success in their attempts to hang direct balls up to Liam Griffiths.
The best chance of the half fell to Newtown who were denied when Idzi produced an excellent reactive save, diving low to his right, to keep out James Murphy’s goalbound strike.
Kieran Lewis threatened at the other end with an attempt from the edge of the box but found Newtown keeper Dave Jones equal to his effort as Carmarthen enjoyed a rare spell of possession around Newtown’s goal.
Only when Kostya Georgievsky was introduced midway way the second-half did Carmarthen truly look able to penetrate Newtown. Bursting down the right, Georgievsky lead the attack as the Old Gold briefly outnumbered the opposing defence but his decision to try and thread a pass across to Liam Griffiths, rather than to go alone, proved to be the wrong one.
Georgievsky again try to prise Newtown open but his far-post cross was Walsh was unable to cleanly connect with the ball.
A set-piece proved to be Carmarthen’s undoing when Craig Williams’ outswinging delivery was met by Boundford.
Mitchell then unleashed the killer blow with a desperate late spell of pressure from Carmarthen proving futile.
Carmarthen Town 0
Newtown AFC 2 Luke Boundford 83′ Neil Mitchell 87′
Carmarthen Town
1. Lee Idzi, 2. Luke Cummings, 6. Lee Surman, 12. Daniel Sheehan, 3. Jordan Knott, 7. Liam Walsh (11. Kyle Williams 88′), 14. Ceri Morgan, 25. Kieran Lewis, 18. Liam Thomas, 17. Liam Griffiths, 23. Kyle Bassett (9. Kostya Georgievsky 56′). Subs not used: , 20. Danny Thomas, 21. Neil Smothers
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Morgan 10′ Bassett 26′ Thomas 86′
Newtown AFC
1. David Jones, 19. T.Craig Williams, 3. Ryan Sears, 5. Kieran Mills-Evans, 24. Iwan Cartwright, 7. Neil Mitchell, 12. Jolyon Harries, 11. James Murphy (9. Luke Boundford 65′), 2. Joe Kenton, 10. Jamie Reed, 8. Nick Rushton (20. Tom Goodwin 89′). Subs not used: 15. Jamie Price, 16. Gavin Cadwallader, 13. Jack Perry (gk), 25. Will Evans, 27. Jordan Jones.
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Harries 64′
Attendance: 246 Referee: Tom Owen