I seem to recognize your face - Newport County

Capital One Cup – First Round

Our opening game of the 2015 season was a success. Our trademark defense smothered Exeter, allowing only two shots and our offense looked sharp in putting all five shot attempts on target. Our new striker pairing looked pretty good as well.

Capital One Cup – Second Round

Our hot streak to open the season continues as we notch a fantastic upset win against West Ham. This makes up for the draw we had in our opening league game against them and we’re onto the third round. Modibo Maiga put West Ham up 2-0 with a first half brace, but the second half belonged to Abiola Badirou. Badirou notched two goals in 2 minutes just before the hour to level the game. Then in extra time, it was Badirou bagging his hat trick to win the match!

League Table

Our first impression on the new season was a positive one. We went undefeated in league play, although that sounds a bit misleading. We went 2/2/0. We also went undefeated in our cup games, winning both of our Capital One Cup matchups. Hopefully this strong start bodes well as we try for another promotion run! We are currently sitting in 6th place and the final playoff promotion spot. We are two points behind 2nd place Wigan and the final auto promo spot and 1 point clear of 7th place Brighton. Our September opponents will be Leeds (11), Bolton (13), Southampton (5), Reading (Capital One Cup), West Brom (1), and Sheff Utd (15).

Transfers

Tom Brown is a 4 star prospect that we picked up on a free. If nothing else he adds depth to our back line as he can play either fullback position and can even pus h up to midfield a bit.

Total money spent this month - zero
Total money spent this season– 12k

September 2015

vs Leeds

Can you believe this was a close game at first? Adam Birchall gave us the lead about half an hour in and it looked like we would go into halftime with that lead. We were flagged for a bullshit penalty, however, and we went in tied at 1 instead. Just past the hour mark, it was Birchall again with a nifty tight-angled shot to regain the lead. Birchall then assisted on the next two goals to put the game away, as strike partner David Moli bagged a brace also. We are now unbeaten in our first five league games and have won three of those five.

Backup center back Chris Devaney bruised his ribs AGAIN in this game and will be out 6-9 days.

vs Bolton

I’ve always said that it’s better to be lucky than good, and on this night we were certainly lucky. Adam Birchall continued to impress in his rotational role, notching an early goal. We turned around and gave up the tying goal within minutes, however, and we went into the half even. We struggled to keep possession and when we did manage to keep possession a lot of our attacks were wasteful. Then with less than 10 minutes left in the game we struck lucky. Adam Birchall headed a ball towards the goal but it bounced off the crossbar before bouncing off the back of the diving keeper and into the net. Our undefeated league streak is now at six games and we have won our last two.

vs Southampton

Our defense stepped up big time and won this game for us. We couldn’t do anything to prevent Southampton from applying pressure on us, but we managed to keep the ball out of the net and that’s all that mattered. And with Adam Birchall not scoring for the first time in two games, Abiola Badirou subbed in and did his best Edin Dzeko impersonation – coming on with only minutes to spare and netting the winning goal! We have now won three straight league games and are undefeated through seven.

vs West Brom

Damn it, we had these guys beaten! Full of confidence from our cup upset, we strolled into hostile territory and almost snatched a win against the top team in the league. Only six minutes in and an inspired attacking move resulted in an own goal that gave us the lead until halftime. West Brom continuously peppered us with shots but once again Alan Julian came up big on a big occasion, stopping everything that came his way. We even came out a bit less defensive in the second half as I felt like we could take a few chances, and we nearly doubled our lead about an hour in. West Brom put on a dazzling set of passes with about 20 minutes to go and our defense was finally carved wide open and Julian simply couldn’t get in front of the ball. We continue undefeated early in the season, though, and we are now 8 games in without a loss.

vs Sheff Utd

After last game’s disappointing ending it felt good to put together a solid win. I did a bit of minor experimenting in midfield and after one game the results look fantastic, lol. I’m hoping we can start to keep a bit more possession which can only help. This starts another winning streak and pushes our unbeaten run to 9 league games.

Capital One Cup – Third Round

Our first scalp of the season! Once again we impressed in a cup game for our home crowd, this time dominating Reading. Abiola Badirou was our starting poacher and he netted both goals for us while the defense did well to limit the opposing offense. And of the four shots that did get on target, Alan Julian turned every single one away.

League Table

The honeymoon from our first month has carried over into a second month and we are looking like contenders for promotion in the early goings. We went 4/1/0 in league play and 5/1/0 overall with a stellar cup win against Premier League side Reading. Our defense continues to be the rock we lean on as we only allowed three goals in the six games we played in September. This run of form has catapulted us into second place now and into an auto promo spot. We are 4 games behind leaders West Brom and lead 3rd place Wigan on goal differential for the final promotion position. We have opened up a six point lead on 7th place Middlesbrough and the final playoff position. In October we will face off against Birmingham (16), Charlton (20), Middlesbrough (7), Hull (24), Cardiff (Capital One Cup), and Huddersfield (5).

Transfers

If my face looks familiar at Newport County, then so does this signing! Kriztian Adorjan joins us on a free and will play in central midfield for us. I’m not sure yet if we will try him at trequart.


Max Oberschmidt was brought to my attention and the 4.5 star potential was too good to pass up. Even though we have a solid prospect in Joe Fryer, we brought Oberschmidt in and loaned him out immediately.

Total money spent this month - zero
Total money spent this season– 12k

And with this update I bid farewell... For one week. I'll be on vacation and won't be back until after Christmas. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!

October 2015

vs Birmingham

This game was more difficult than the final score indicates. In fact, if it weren’t for a goal late in stoppage time the final score would’ve been more fitting of the struggle. So while we kept a clean sheet there were plenty of times when we were only up one goal that it felt like we could give up a cheap goal. This marks our second straight win and our unbeaten run is now into double digits at 10.

vs Charlton

The honeymoon is officially over, and it ended on a sour note. I don’t want to say our defense played atrociously, because even though we gave up 33 shots and 14 on target, we only allowed 2 goals. But we allowed 33 shots and 14 of them on target. And while we managed more than our average amount of attempts on offense, we failed to make Charlton pay. This combination won’t beat many teams at all and it’s time to see how the boys deal with the first bit of bad news on the season.

vs Middlesbrough

Just what the doctor ordered! We took an early 1-0 lead and held it until halftime; then after giving up an early goal after the restart the team showed the resolve to not only take back the lead but to win rather convincingly down the stretch. Then a feared injury to David Moli turned out to be nothing more than a minor knock after he went down just after the hour mark.

vs Hull

Two straight games where our offense looked more lively than usual. This time it was thanks to Fran O’Connor who really impressed at trequart. He only bagged one assist but he was a constant threat with his dribbling ability. This game also cost Hull manager Ruud Gullit his job. We’ve now bounced back from our first defeat of the season with a two game winning streak.

vs Huddersfield

Coming off the high of booking a trip to the quarterfinals of the Capital One Cup, this Halloween game turned out to be a nightmare. First off, look at the unsightly stats on offense. We were killed on possession and shots. It’s a miracle that we were only down by one going into halftime and that we managed to level the game before the hour mark. We simply couldn’t deny Huddersfield much longer, however, as they scored just past the hour to regain the lead. The backbreaker came on a super late goal that put us into a two goal deficit. We pulled one back just before stoppage time but couldn’t find a miracle third goal.

Capital One Cup – Fourth Round

Coming off the high of our Premier League scalp in the third round, we went into the fourth round with everything seemingly falling into place. We had a home date against a Championship side team and we were getting back on track with a pair of league wins prior to this matchup. So naturally I was scared that we wouldn’t perform, lol. Turns out I was just being overly skeptical.

Things got off to a pretty normal start, with Cardiff creating and taking more chances in the first half. After the first 30 minutes, though, we got into gear. Our striker duo netted two goals in eight minutes to give us a 2-0 lead going into halftime. We extended that lead to 3-0 just after the hour and coasted from there. Cardiff’s frustrations came to a boil with about 15 minutes to go, with one of their players drawing a straight red card. We notched our fourth goal late in the game with Badirou subbing in and being the third striker to bag a goal in the game. This win puts us into the quarterfinals!

League Table

After opening with a two month unbeaten run, we finally lost our first few games in October. And while losing two league games hurt, including being shut out for the first time since late August, I think we grew as a team. Our first loss of the month was followed by three consecutive wins where we looked very strong. It remains to be seen how we bounce back from our loss to end the month but I like our chances. We continue to hold down 2nd place on the table and auto promotion. We are three points behind leaders West Brom and lead 3rd place Blackpool by one slim point for the final promotion position. We have a seven point lead on 7th place Huddersfield and the final playoff position. In November we will face off against Sheff Wed (18), Ipswich (15), Brighton (13), Wigan (8), QPR (9), and Cardiff (20).

Transfers

The signing of Cristian Battocchio shows how far we’ve come and how serious I am at getting better. Midfield wasn’t even an area of concern but Battocchio is a tremendous upgrade. He will play the more attacking role at center mid but can also play defensively. This signing also changes my overall philosophy at central midfield, where we will play with a DLP instead of a BWM, signaling an intent to play a bit more offensively.


Stuart Milligan is another young striker for the future. His tremendous flair along with his 4.5 PA rating was too much to pass on. He will be trained as a trequart and was immediately sent out on loan to get first team action.

Total money spent this month - zero
Total money spent this season– 12k

November 2015

vs Sheff Wed

After our last game, it felt good to get back on the right track with a vintage display. We were outshot, but we had more quality attempts and walked away with a gritty 1-0 win. Adam Birchall continues to do well in his reserve role by notching his seventh league goal in twelve games.

vs Ipswich

This marks the second time a coach has been fired after losing to us. Don’t lose to the new kids in town, I guess! We looked quite comfortable offensively and that’s never a good sign for the opposition and we deserved probably two or three more goals along with the two we scored.
And how about this bit of news shortly after the Ipswich job became available? Obviously the answer was no.

vs QPR

I’ve mentioned someone doing an Edin Dzeko performance before but this is probably the best one yet! Daniel Jones came on in the 80th minute with the game tied. It took him four minutes to notch the game winner. It took him two minutes after that to extend the lead to two goals. I was floored, QPR was floored. This makes three league wins in a row!

vs Cardiff

This is the second game in a row that we put together a dominating performance statistically, winning all three aspects – shots, shots on target, and possession. We took a 2-0 lead into halftime and maintained that score to the end, looking quite comfortable the whole way through. This is now our fourth league win in a row.

League Table

Remember when I said I felt like we grew as a team last month despite two losses? That growth resulted in an undefeated month where we only allowed one goal in four games! This streak puts is in strong contention as we head into the back half of the season. We continue to hold down 2nd place on the table and auto promotion, although we are only trailing West Brom by 1 goal scored and have a game in hand. We lead 3rd place Blackpool by two points with two games in hand for the final promotion position. We have opened up a ten point lead on 7th place West Ham and the final playoff position. Heading into December we will face off against Swindon (Capital One Cup), Blackpool (3), Peterborough (18), Nottm Forest (8), Brighton (17), Crystal Palace (24), West Ham (7), Barnsley (10), Colchester (9), and Bolton (23). It will be a very congested month but a strong showing can really solidify our promotion chances.

Transfers

No new faces this month.

Total money spent this month - zero
Total money spent this season– 12k

Thanks, but no thanks to this offer that came out of the blue.

December 2015

vs Cardiff

This is the second game in a row that we put together a dominating performance statistically, winning all three aspects – shots, shots on target, and possession. We took a 2-0 lead into halftime and maintained that score to the end, looking quite comfortable the whole way through. This is now our fourth league win in a row.

vs Blackpool

After a nice run of solid attacking play, we couldn’t muster up much offense at all against Blackpool. That said, we got fantastically lucky and won 2-0. Abiola Badirou continues to shine in the poacher role, netting a brace to bring his goal haul to eight in seventeen league games. Alan Julian also did a good job in turning back seven shots that were on target to preserve the clean sheet. We are now on a five game winning streak within the league.

vs Peterborough

Last game’s attacking problems were nowhere to be found here. It wasn’t quite as statistically dominating as our recent performance against Cardiff but we won in terms of shots, shots on target, and possession once again. This game was actually tied 1-1 at the half but we came out with a quickfire double in the second half to put the game away, scoring two goals within seven minutes of the restart. This is our sixth straight league win!

vs Nottm Forest

Well if the last handful of games left any doubt, this game helped reinforce the fact that we aren’t just getting lucky with all of these wins. We went in tied 1-1 at the half with our typical opportunistic style of play. Then the floodgates opened in the second half with three goals coming in less than 15 minutes! We had pushed the lead out to 5-1 before Nottm Forest scored a garbage goal in stoppage time. Adam Birchall scored once again in a spot start, continuing as our second highest scorer in his bench role. And even though we have won seven straight wins, West Brom is still up by one point in the standings as they continue to dominate the opposition as well.

vs Brighton

It’s been a while since we’ve needed it, but our defense stepped up and won this game for us. Brighton outdid us on the attacking front but Alan Julian and company maintained a clean sheet while new boy Cristian Battocchio bagged the only goal of the game in the second half. This marks our eighth consecutive win and we have finally overtaken West Brom at the top of the table!

vs Crystal Palace

Oh man, we were lucky in this one. It’s a good thing our defense got a warm up last game because they were put to the test in this one. 23 shots, 13 on target, CLEAN SHEET! Fran O’Connor flashed his aerial ability in this one, heading home the winner just past the hour mark to extend our winning streak to 9 games.

vs West Ham

Well, our luck finally caught up to us. A 1-1 halftime score went unchanged and our winning streak comes to a halt at 9 games. We can still count ourselves lucky to have salvaged a draw in this game as West Ham dominated on the attacking end of things. And while our winning streak is over, our undefeated streak continues as we have now gone 10 games without a loss.

vs Barnsley

And there goes the undefeated streak. We’ve been flirting with disaster and it finally caught up to us. We already knew how congested this month’s schedule was going to be, but without Chris Devaney to spell our other center backs I think fatigue finally got the best of us. I opted to go with my regulars with mid-80s stamina instead of dipping into the reserve team. Barnsley took us to task all game long defensively and we were unable to come back after giving up an early 2nd half goal.

vs Colchester

What a difference one fresh player makes! Chris Devaney was healthy enough to start and his energy translated to much better defensive play across the back line. So even after only two days rest after losing to Barnsley we found a way to grind out a 1-0 victory to get back on the winning track before the end of the year.

vs Bolton

Our marathon month has finally come to an end. After playing games nearly every three days I was happy to get through this game injury free and the fact that we managed a draw with so many players feeling fatigued was icing on the cake. Two of our most reliable team aspects shone through – the defense playing solid and Adam Birchall starting and scoring a goal. This puts us on a nice little two game unbeaten streak to close out the month.

Capital One Cup – Quarterfinals

We got super lucky drawing League 1 side Swindon at home instead of any of the Premier League teams left in the competition. We needed that advantage, too, as we left it late before putting away the winning goal with only minutes before stoppage time. We’ll need to step up our performance big time as we will definitely face a Premier League team in the semifinals.

League Table

This month felt like it was taking forever, given the sheer volume of games we had on tap. Overall we played 10 games in 31 days and our squad depth was given a firm test. One that I think we passed after going 7/2/1 for the month! We sputtered a bit in the final stretch of games but still did enough to finally overtake West Brom at the top of the table. For all our success, West Brom has been equally fantastic thus far in league play and this could be a tight race to see who wins the league crown. We currently have a 2 point lead on West Brom with a game in hand. We lead 3rd place Blackpool now by twelve points with a game in hand for the final promotion position and this is our new goal – auto promotion. In January we will face off against Middlesbrough (FA Cup), Arsenal (Capital One Cup, Leg 1), Leeds (18), Southampton (7), Sheff Utd (9), Arsenal (Capital One Cup, Leg 2), Wigan (5), and Birmingham (17). We will only play 7 games this month compared to last month’s 10 game gauntlet.

Transfers

No new faces this month.

Total money spent this month - zero
Total money spent this season– 12k