Newport County 1 Stockport County 2 ( Football League 2) Saturday 12 November 2022

 

 

 

County took all the points today coming back from a goal down to secure a well merited 2-1 win against Newport County with second half goals from Hussey and Madden.

Well merited it clearly was with County absolutely bossing Graham Coughlan`s team for 44 minutes of the first half. Unfortunately, the 45^th minute saw the blues go to sleep at the back gifting the Welsh side a lead they hardly expected and certainly did not deserve on the balance of play.

But as the man said…” Take your chances… result happiness, don’t put them away- result misery!”

Thankfully County had super charged heroes to spare in the fading Welsh sunshine – if Madden and Wright shone brighter at times than most, and Hussey did more than enough to compensate for his earlier blooper, it was another collective performance to be proud of from County who never looked anything but the better of the two teams.

Any other result would have been a through travesty but having said that we need to ask ourselves why after dominating the game so thoroughly and having created so many chances, we were suddenly chasing the game!

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The early minutes probably gave the Welsh side their best moments of the half up to the goal, but it was not that threatening- County giving a tantalising glimpse of what  could be possible as Madden and Hippolyte replied with speed but little in the way of good fortune.

Bogle looked disappointed on 6 minutes as his header flew wide, but Hinchliffe had it well covered, and it was no kind of chance.

That said Farquharson stole a free kick in a very scorable position for Newport. Bogle hit the wall with this, and Hinchliffe did well to tip Norman`s follow up effort over the bar. Hussey took a knock in the lead up to that action and was off the park when County defended the corner that followed, but the blues defended it well to end the angst.

Gradually County began the job of dismantling their opponents and they were seemingly on to do just that as Wright stormed clear down the right only to be comprehensively mugged en route. The free kick gave County possibilities but sadly Madden`s header cleared the bar.

As County stepped up the revs so our hosts looked to press the panic button and Drysdale was only too glad to locate touch under pressure from Hippolyte. There was pressure too…..and a real chance came next thanks to Sarcevic`s run that saw him ping in a cross that had Wootton`s name written on it- but the chance went begging as Wootton could not force the ball home from smack in front!

That was disappointing and more followed within a minute as Sarcevic and Hussey worked another raid into existence down the right exchanging passes neatly before it all ended sadly with Sarcevic`s shot drifting wide.

It went on with Demetriou forced to concede a corner under extreme pressure from Madden and Wootton. The kick went short to Madden but his shot was charged down in the crowded box. This just saw County refuse to let the momentum die and Hippolyte did well to push the home side back again, but once more seeing no one in blue quite able to apply that vital finish- another chance was gone!

Still the pressure mounted from County- Croasdale the latest to surge forward to torment the men in yellow. The pass on to Madden was good but when he picked out Hippolyte Drysdale`s block saw the chance off keeping it 0-0!

Some Sarcevic/ Madden / Hippolyte brilliance came next just missing out……then Wootton was unlucky to find Farquharson on his case  keeping him from a tasty cross from Collar smack in front .

This was so frustrating.

County were completely dominating their opponents, just the finish was missing as promising raids petered out to the great disappointment of the large County following- would we rue this fact ?

The 44^th minute saw Wright surge clear to the by-line leaving keeper Joe Day and Farquharson in a veritable tizz- it looked anything but pretty, but Newport would be OK with that as they survived intact with the score still 0-0.

Then we turned off at the back as Horsfall and Hussey allowed Bogle a ridiculous amount of freedom near the by-line- enough for him to pick  out Aaron Lewis towards the back post and Newport suddenly lead 1-0 as he made no mistake with his shot !

There was time for Hussey to make some recompense for his part in the goal, by blocking another Bogle run almost immediately following the goal.

Boy how we did not need to concede another goal at that point, but we didn`t, we just had to recover our equilibrium in the relative calm of the dressing room, and then come and put matters right in the second half!

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County went on the offensive  again when the game resumed after the break, but with no immediate change of fortune – Hippolyte coming closest to success 7 minutes in with a shot that Day did well to keep out. County had options from the action that followed on from that shot but once again with no one able to do the biz at the sharp end when it counted.

Enter Akil Wright with another coruscating run to the by line that simply oozed menace so much so that he was upended for his pains! But the pain would be entirely Newport`s as it happened as Hussey delivered another of those swirling mind benders that had the hex on Day who fumbled like a lost soul at the back post as Hussey`s kick by-passed him into the net! 

Cue celebrations as the large County following saluted their team`s equaliser!

County wanted the win though, but Croasdale lifted another Hussey free kick over the bar within minutes of the County goal.

Then the Newport corpse twitched, via Norman but Collar did enough to block him when shove came to push from a rare home corner….then County looked to have found the perfect answer as , from deep defence, Madden sent Southam- Hales darting clear. He had wiggled clear of Drysdale and then he hadn`t as the defender took him out from behind.

Well, that looked a bad foul and arguably prevented a near certain goal albeit there was a way to run, but no…..no red…..no yellow ( I think) chance gone and through no fault of the blues this time!

It all got a bit precious next with the Newport Evans making a real hash of a notional `chance` then the referee somehow avoiding giving in to the baying locals for `something or nothing` that in the end turned out to be 100% nothing and a County bounce up!

On it went …Southam- Hales again hauled unceremoniously down when clear – a booking this time, a free kick also but this was cleared and time was passing now, we were into the last 20 minutes now with it still 1-1.

County kept on attacking- Horsfall wide from Hippolyte`s pass…..Madden disappointed to see his shot clear the bar from another Hippolyte prompt.

Then, there were just 16 minutes left……and we scored that winner!

County just would not go away at all, Madden for sure and his first effort was cleared off the line in extremis by Demetriou, only for the ball to end up back with PM who made no mistake with his second effort.

It was 2-1 …County had their lead and probably the match as well now!

County swept on regardless though, looking for another only to see Farquharson break up the party with a run from deep before picking Bogle out with an inch perfect pass. It was a moment of real danger for County and Bogle met the moment well with a thumping drive that with a keeper other than Hinchliffe might have counted but instead Ben stood firm pulling off an excellent save to keep it at 2-1!

DC rang the changes next bringing Ryan Johnson and Lewis on for Southam -Hales and Sarcevic.

For their part Newport were trying a bit but without the persistent quality of County’s efforts and County were by no means done either- Collar sending Madden clear and watching as County`s number nine saw his header rattle the bar with Day beaten- before staying out!

Newport still wanted something from the game, but Aaron Lewis was thoroughly bamboozled trying to force his way deep into blue territory with 3 minutes left by Collar.

Another minute and Hippolyte was unable to force a late/ late chance home for County ……Evans disconcerted to see Hinchliffe pull off another fine save almost on 90 minutes to keep his strike out at the other end!

Then, deep into added time and Hinchliffe gave us some more to remember with another belting save to keep Norman’s fierce drive out.

That was about it….it needed to be I can tell you, it had been quite a game …a real nerve tingler!

Time for team and supporters to salute each other and there were some scenes enacted in the moments following the final whistle.

Well done County for eventually sorting matters.

 

Newport County line up :-

Day, Drysdale, Farquharson, Demetriou, Norman, Aaron Lewis ( Nevers 90), Bennett, Moriah- Welsh ( Dolan 70), Waite, Bogle, Evans.

Subs not used: Townsend, Adam Lewis, Willmott, Zimba, Collins.

 

Stockport County line up:-

Hinchliffe, Wright, Horsfall, Hussey, Southam-Hales ( R Johnson 82), Hippolyte, Croasdale, Collar, Sarcevic ( Lewis 82), Madden, Wootton.

 

Subs not used : Jones, Evans, Crankshaw, Brown, Mac Donald .

 

Attendance : 3753 ( 1017)

 

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Gallery of crowd shots:-