Newport County (H) - League 2 - 21st September 2024
Navigator, navigator rise up and be strong, The morning is here and there's work to be done. Take your pick and your shovel and the bold dynamite, for to shift a few tons of this earthly delight - The Pogues
The fanzone was a mass of anticipation. What sort of side would we face? Were we organised enough to navigate the game? Could we bridge the gap? How will we manage to down tools and go?
Before that though, Newport at home. Nobody talking much about that except to fret re Niall Canavan’s absence and hope Stokes was the calm journeyman replacement we hoped.
The sun blazed. Unexpectedly hot- like Barrow’s September form. Third in the league with a chance to go top, early as it is.
Newport had set up solidly but looked nervous and short of confidence. We, on the other hand, looked competent and dangerous. Ben Jackson has for some wonderful reason, been spirited to Holker Street, quite possibly in the boot of Ian Wood’s car in the dead of a Yorkshire night.
His various crosses and passes dipped, spun and scythed. Meanwhile, Kian Spence scorched around the turf, mugging unwary Newport dawdlers. Sam Foley, linking cleverly had a drive beaten away.
There are things in life that you dream of, as a possibility and hope for… but never truly believe will happen in Barrow. A full size 4G pitch. Transport links to the rest of the world. Decent outside pub seating. Sense and humanity in the Mail’s comments section.
One of these unlikely moments came yesterday. After some lovely interchanges came to naught, Kouyate and Foley combined cleverly and the former whipped in a vicious low ball amongst the faltering Newport defence.
GOAL!
NEWBY? NEWBY? NEWBY!
The word bounced around the ground in disbelief as our number eleven bundled the ball home to universal glee on the terraces. Never has a first goal in the EFL felt more deserved. All around me, fans beamed as if they had scored it themselves. Barrow born, in a Barrow shirt. Heart-warming.
Newport? Well, they were present in that there were people running around wearing Newport County colours, but you couldn’t say they were having the remotest effect on the game. At one brief flurry, a mournful defiant chant went up from the 100 odd faithful who had dragged themselves up from South Wales.
Were we good? Were they just horrifically poor? Well it was probably both I reflected as we set sail into the second half. Dean Campbell was having a lovely day. Stroking the ball from either foot, as we buzzed down the sides.
I fell to thinking about our midfield improvements and our incredible ability to steal the ball when pressing, a Barrow toe will block, poke, impede and jab…and somehow we always come away with the ball. The deep, niggling work that is at the bedrock of our improvements and gives us a platform to go again.
Coaching. Stephen Clemence has been and done it, tasting highs and lows aplenty at a higher level. Busy, honest with a bit of dash and spite on the park but calm and clever off it, gaining respect. Robbie Stockdale, cut from the same cloth, defensively organised, but knows how cruel football can be.
Small wonder then, as experienced heads, they retained Jason Taylor too. League Two is his world and you can see his work beneath the bonnet. Our mistakes fixed at the back and spanners thrown into the works of others.
When Ian Evatt came, a few of us expressed surprise that Jason Taylor was high on the list of signings. He sat and and explained how he was to be the base of the side, from whence everything flowed. When you see an outstretched leg steal the ball cleverly, an opposing defender hustled, harried and bullied and even the darker arts of game management- we are seeing Tayles the Destroyer made flesh.
But-goals can flow too- and he is the navigator for us in both boxes. Which is where, again, our second goal came from. Some more positive play had forced yet another corner. Jackson, again the dead-ball craftsman, Vassell, again, powering home a header. And that was that for another week in League 2.
A post match, air of calm satisfaction. Never too high, never too low must be rubbing off. Others can see the value in us. Here’s Newport’s manager.
“I think they showed why they are the top of the league, they are a good team, they play good football. They are also a physical team; if you look at every one-v-one in the game, we lost most of them. Our boys fought, they gave everything they had, we could see that they were trying hard but we have to accept sometimes that the opposition is better than you."
We go. A team, a town, a management trio guiding a group of players to be the best version of themselves. To Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea await, followed by a top-two clash at Gillingham.
Take your pick and your shovel and your bold dynamite. Set course for the south.
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