Newport County - A Journey

An important victory against Oldham given the previous results against Morecambe and Walsall.

March

There can be only one question on every Newport fan’s minds after such a whirlwind month, and that is “Can we?” Can they climb the last few rungs of the ladder and climb into the rarified atmosphere of League 1? On this months showing, it would be a brave man to bet against them, at this point.

Port Vale were first up, and despite taking an early lead when Yan Dhanda deflected a cross past Nick Townsend, the team never looked in serious trouble and roared back to win 3-1 thanks to an a goal a piece from Ali Omar & Dhanda, and an own goal from Scott Brown.

Next up, 3rd placed Bradford. They took the lead in the 27th minute when Shay McCartan was left unmarked by Kyle Howkins to nod home from 8 yards. Things were to go from bad to worse for Howkins and his team mates when he was sent of for a nasty lunge on Aramide Oteh on the hour mark. “It was a nasty one” said Stevenson afterwards. “Yes I like the lads to get stuck in and be physical, but he went too far that time. No excuses.” Fortunately they managed to rescue a point shot home from the edge of the area with 10 minutes to play. It’s safe to say that the home side will take the result as hard as a loss.

Scunthorpe came to Rodney Parade the following Tuesday and Stevenson shuffled his pack, recalling Jamille Matt after a 3 games on the bench, Josh Sheehan for the rested Dolan. The former produced the good, scoring twice, and assisting Will Miller for another in an exciting 3-2 win.

Late heartbreak befell The Exiles in the next game, as Plymouth’s Nortei Nortey equalised in stoppage time of a 3-3 draw. Matt & Miller had Newport 2-0 after five minutes, but to their credit Plymouth worked their way back into the contest and deservedly brought it back to 2-2 with 2 goals from Dominic Telford. Matt thought he’d sealed the points when he nodded home Dhanda’s excellent cross, only for Nortey to spoil the party with a well placed header of his own. Stevenson was less than happy at full time “We downed tools once we’d gone two nil up” he fumed “The one crumb of comfort we can take from the day is that Bradford lost so the gap to them is still four points”

The team travelled to Salford for their next game. Matt scoring the only goal of the game after 8 minutes to secure the points.

The last game of the month at home to Forest Green provided everything that’s good about the hustle & bustle of League 2 football. Two goals in the space of 10 minutes from Will Miller saw The Exiles cruising into half time. “I tried to drum it into them at half time that the game was far from over, but it obviously fell on deaf ears” lamented Stevenson after game, and it took just 3 minutes after the restart to be proved right. George Williams accepted a pass in from the left, carried the ball to the edge of the penalty area D, and let fly with an unstoppable strike into Nick Townsend’s top left-hand corner. Rovers poured men forward in search of an equaliser, and found on 20 minutes later when Ryan Haynes brought down Carl Winchester just inside the box. It was a clumsy challenge, and one that didn’t have to be made. Up stepped Lloyd James to send Townsend the wrong way and leave Newport shellshocked. And they continued to ride their luck, as the opposition spurned several good chances to take the lead. Then came the moment of the game. 5 minutes into stoppage time, Sheehan drove forward to the edge of the box, and just as he was about the take a shot, he was brought down by Nathan McGinley. That left the ball 20 yards out, just right of central. Not exactly a penalty, but a good chance none the less, but who would take it? Corey Whitely assumed responsibility, and the home fans were glad he did as they watched his shot curl over the wall, and down low to the keepers lefthand side. As the crowd let out a collective scream of pure delight, the referee blow for full time. They’d literally won it with the last kick of the game. “Unreal end to the game” beamed Stevenson “We were way below our best in the second half so to win it, and to win it like that is very, very pleasing”. Indeed it was.

As pleasing as that win was, it was doubly pleasing that thanks to Swindon’s loss to Oldham, Newport are now top of League 2 going into the final 6 games of the season.

“Can we?” Indeed…

To win promotion would be a great feat, let alone do so by winning the division. Good luck in the run-in!

April

Any Newport fan’s hopes of running away with the league, and enjoying the run in, in relative peace have certainly been dashed during a chaotic month.

It started well enough, with a narrow but professional 1-0 win over Colchester, Will Miller scoring from the penalty spot. But then, the bolts holding on the wheels of this promotion bus started to loosen.

The Exiles were dismantled 3-0 away to Crawley, an Ollie Palmer hat trick handed Stevenson’s men their fist defeat in 16 games. “Only will time will tell if it is” was his reply to whether or not the pressure was beginning to mount on his players “We’ve been on an amazing run of late, but it had to end at some point. It’s just a shame we didn’t go down swinging”.

Cambridge at home gave the team a chance to put things right. One that they squandered, losing 3-1. Tristan Abrahams, handed a rare start due to injuries to Miller & Jamille Matt, cancelled out Luke Hannant’s opener on the half hour mark with a lovely finish from a tight angle. But in a game with few chances it was Cambridge who were more clinical, another goal from Hannant, and a 3rd from Harrison Dunk made it a miserable day. It was made even worse by the fact Swindon had won, and in doing so, reclaimed top spot.

The fact that Miller is out for the season with a broken arm, as well as Matt recovering from a groin strain, was a cause for concern. Abrahams & Amond are good strikers but this isn’t the time to be developing partnerships, and players playing their way into form, so supporters were their crossing fingers in the hope they could help push the team over the line.

It wasn’t too much of an issue for the next game as Kyle Howkins & Josh Sheehan wrapped up the points in the 1st half, away to Stevenage. “It’s great to back on track, and even more pleasing that Swindon dropped points as well”. Stevenson was right, the defeat for Swindon put his team clear at the top by a point, and more importantly, with Bradford losing too, it meant that providing the next batch of results went their way, they’d be promoted.

A bumper crowd of 6,745 turned out to see if Newport could to crown League 2 Champions against Carlisle. And it was going to script for the majority of the match. Corey Whitely had given them the lead after 35 minutes, a delightful volley from Mickey Demetriou’s left wing cross. But any hope that Carlisle, 12th at kick off would down tools as they had nothing to play for, were summerly dashed after half time. They controlled the game, and created chance after chance to equalise. Only some excellent goalkeeping from Tom King, and a fair share of luck kept the visitors at bay. Until the 95th minute. The otherwise excellent Whitely made the mistake of trying to cross for Abrahams, rather than taking it into the corner with seconds remaining, his blocked croft fell to Gethin Jones, who’s punt forward caught the defence square. The excellent Elias Sorenson raced onto the through ball, and beat King from 10 yards. The home fans were stunned, they were literally seconds from sealing the win and potentially the title. Now all they could do was nervously check their phones, and hold their radios to their ears to find out how Swindon & Bradford had fared. Then the cheering began, as news pored around the ground that Bradford had failed to beat Oldham. Newport County had done it, they were promoted to League 1 with a game to spare. “Unbelievable” scream Stevenson as he was embraced on the pitch, by his players and fans alike. “This really is amazing. I knew coming in that with the right amount of effort from everyone at the club, cup it really is a collective effort, from the kit man, to the girls in the canteen, to the admin staff, the chairman, the stewards, obviously the fans, through to the players, I knew we’d have a chance, but to be promoted, playing the way have most of the season, is incredible”.

Exiles fans will now have a week of celebrating before they can see if the team can seal the title against Macclesfield, but judging by the scenes that greeted confirmation of their promotion, it’s doubtful they’re care.

Congratulations! It was a bumpy ride towards the end, but a thoroughly deserved promotion given the form throughout the season.

*note* I edited your post slightly. You said you lost 3-0 to Colchester, but I think you meant Crawley? Hope this is correct haha.