Newport County 2 Stockport County 1 ( Football League 2 ) Saturday 25 November 2023
County`s record run bit the dust today via a dispiritingly poor performance at Newport County`s Rodney Parade that saw them beaten 2-1 in a game where the blues seemed totally unable to muster any worthwhile moves.
The first half started and ended in free kicks- both to County`s opponents, the second one, in the half`s dying embers signalled our fate as Bryn Morriss`s grass hugging lasher gave Graham Coughlan`s team a 1-0 lead at the break.
The re-start after half time saw no real improvement from County but at 1-0 there was every possibility that they might just shape up and shake the lethargy off, but no…
Come the hour County made a clutch of personnel changes- Richardson for Touray, Madden for Powell and perhaps crucially Wright for Croasdale and within a few short minutes the Welsh side doubled their advantage as Shane McCloughlin`s ` speculative effort` flew improbably into the County net.
For me 2-0 was about right by this time as a reflection of how the game was going – Madden showed us what we were missing by not starting him and Southam-Hales was simply outstanding throughout. No one else shone at all and it was a major surprise when we nicked one at the death – the product of more wholehearted effort from our Welsh genius hacked home from close in by Tanto.
Oh, and we cannot blame the referee – I thought Mr Drysdale had an excellent game - the defeat was very much of our own making, so we take note, absorb any lessons to be learnt, and move on !
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Almost from the off County seemed to make things hard for themselves conceding an early free kick that had Hinchliffe in action to keep it at 0-0.
On it went- Horsfall heading McLoughlin’s cross out under pressure, and Touray seeing off potential danger as Palmer-Houlden tried his luck.
Midst all this activity in the County half, twice County sought to reply, via Tanto and then Collar but both these fizzled out and all the above action had happened within the first 5 minutes.
It got somewhat lighter on excitement after that, a routine Hinchliffe catch from Evans` cross cum shot on 6 minutes, and a break by Collar that saw Tanto forced to accept a corner as reward on the end of it the only near excitements to record-the corner was cleared!
We were beyond 15 minutes now and already Southam -Hales was manning the County fort heroically his tackle on Mc Loughlin saving the blue bacon after they had spilled possession profligately.
Much of the play after this was mundane in the extreme – County frustrating their large following with some loose work, and just where was their top of the league killer instinct? It was missing, a fact writ large on 25 minutes when, after Croasdale and Tanto had engineered a corner this ended up being played back to Hinchliffe. It was small wonder we had not registered a shot on target as yet!
Delaney, Clarke and Payne had County`s attack pretty much sorted by this time, Clarke looking particularly impressive snuffing a run by Collar out with the minimum of fuss 7 minutes later.
It was frustrating stuff to watch and it got worse as Mr Drysdale took a tumble and had to go off the park for what seemed like eon`s- I began to earnestly hope that he would not be replaced by the 4th official or someone else as he looked a cut above the average to me .
My fears were unfounded, and Mr D returned to a stunned silence from the crowd of over 4000.
Almost on half time Powell `s dive won County a free kick and it was not unreasonable to think that this was an opportunity to banish their problems and make them history, but instead we got more frustration as Tanto`s header from this was comfortably dealt with by Nick Townsend in the home goal.
Four minutes time added was announced as Omar Bogle screwed a lulu of a shot way over the bar for our hosts.
We just now needed to ride the coming 4 minutes out coolly without any dramas but instead, deep into the fourth of these minutes, with Newport mounting another despairing raid, they were aided mightily as County gifted them a free kick on the edge of the box.
This looked eminently scoreable, and Newport did not waste the chance, the ball being played back to Bryn Morris who drilled the ball low and hard into the County net.
Newport had the lead and soon enough it was half time, and we could ponder on just how that had come about then maybe set about rectifying the situation in the second half!
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A little class from France in Half Time Entertainment….
Cyrille Aimee “ la vie en rose`
https://youtu.be/81viyOKgx0w?si=dMQa02cMYfu3rt9F
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The second half opened with a rash of free kick`s, none of which either side could take advantage of .
Powell did lift a cross over that somehow looked to morph into an effort on goal in mid-flight, 7 minutes into the half, but Townsend was not troubled by this .
To say that that was about the best effort of the half so far should tell readers how dire what we were watching was, but it all got suddenly superheated and the home specs to my right were screaming ferociously at the referee after Touray had launched the poorest of tackles on Will Evans.
They wanted a red card, and I would not have been at all surprised or outraged had Mr Drysdale waved such in Touray`s direction, but he didn`t he showed yellow- we were very fortunate indeed!
Buoyed by this maybe, County came to life-but Powell`s header from Touray`s cross was held confidently by the home keeper.
County remained in possession for a while after this, but when played clear in the box Tanto went down clearly seeking a penalty when a shot on goal was surely called for. Tanto had got nothing out of the home defence all afternoon and Mr Drysdale continued his angst by unsurprisingly waving his appeal aside.
We did win a free kick a minute or so later but made nothing of it!
Just beyond the hour mark we saw County make a clutch of personnel changes- Richardson for Touray, Madden for Powell and most contentiously for me Wright for Croasdale.
It`s not that I didn`t want Wright on I just feel Croasdale is vital to the coherence of our effort and I shudder when he is shuffled off the park. I allowed myself to acknowledge that we would be thinking of avoiding another Croasdale booking with games coming up, but surely we wanted to win this one!?
Similarly with Paddy, I hear the argument- we don’t start him because we need a strong attacking element on the bench and if he starts this is heavily reduced. So it is, but our attacking momentum is increased from the start of games not for the dying moments of same.
Anyway, back to the match, and almost immediately a Richardson/ Madden combo won us a corner, but this was wasted.
Still bemused by that action, my distress got worse as I looked up to see a swing of Shane McLoughlin’s boot end with the ball flying into the County net to double the home side`s lead.
The home specs were beside themselves with joy and nearly OD`d on adrenalin as Evans curled a shot an inch or so wide from a Morriss pass 2 minutes after the goal.
County did press after this -again failing to capitalise on a corner won largely by Madden`s craft- Evans able to run the ball clear to acclaim from home fans.
It went on- County getting a free kick- Southam -Hales sending this down the keeper`s throat, but he was excused if this is at all needed as he was running his legs off in the cause and now doing it on the left flank having swapped wings with Richardson.
Into the last 10 minutes of normal time we went with County attacking but not looking that likely to upturn their opponents party feeling.
Wootton eluded Baker`s attentions neatly only to meet an implacable line of resistance twixt him and goal……Southam -Hales darting run was then halted by a foul- cue a free kick and the glimmer of a chance , and our Welsh Genius went close…really close with his kick but missed out narrowly.
Southam- Hales continued to perform heroics- Madden went on oozing class and so unlucky to see Townsend dive to push his shot around the post 3 minutes into 4 minutes added time.
We had pretty much settled on 0-2, when Madden and Southam-Hales produced one more tour de force for us somehow squeezing the ball into the danger area where Townsend looked about to gather as the ball bounced his way. Hmm…cue Tanto and in ungainly fashion he bundled the ball home.
I looked to see if Mr D would disallow it, there looked to be a possible debate to be had, but no the goal stood- it was 1-2 now ….did we have a chance?
Technically we did of course, but it was always not going to be , we had been architects of our own downfall albeit in just one game.
Disappointing…of course it is, but it is more important that we seek to address any issues this defeat raises.
We have loads of important games coming up, and with injuries ( and bookings) mounting our task will not be getting any easier.
That said we are where we are in the league namely top of the pile and on merit and talent does not disappear overnight for no reason.
Meanwhile we get down to Edgeley Park on Tuesday for the Salford game, and Aldershot on Sunday for the FA Cup , get behind our team and help them raise their game again!
Let`s do it!
Newport County line up :-
Townsend , Payne , Delaney, Clarke , Mc Loughlin ( Rai 70) , Baker , Bennett , Morris , Palmer- Houldon , Bogle , Evans .
Subs not used : Maxted , Bondswell , Waite , Wood , Sanca.
Stockport County line up :-
Hinchliffe , Southam- Hales , Horsfall , Pye , Touray ( Richardson 64) , Croasdale ( Wright 64) , Collar ( Cotterill 94) , Powell ( Madden 64) , Bailey , Wootton , Olaofe ,
Subs not used ; Smith , Knoyle , Byrne .
Attendance : 4053 ( 604)
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