Newport County (A) - League 2 - 1st February 2025
I’d been looking forward to the Newport game for a while as one of the few ‘ticks’ I needed to complete League 2 and when a work trip to Shrewsbury was put in the diary the days before our trip to South Wales the stars aligned perfectly for a stopover in Cardiff – somewhere else I’d been wanting to visit for a while. A Friday night in Cardiff is a sight to behold, the place was bouncing, helped in no small measure by the fact their rugby team were in action. Like most normal people I try to swerve public displays of the 15 man code but in Wales it isn’t a sport for braying wannabe toffs so it was more of an affable crowd with no Gant 1/4 zips in sight. A few pints of Brains SA in the City Arms chatting football and fashion with an old school Cardiff City type until I was joined by the BBCs Adam Johnson who had surveyed the nightlife options further down the M4 and promptly jumped in a taxi. More pubs, more Barrow fans met and the night went on and on.
Saturday started slowly with a wander around Cardiff, taking in some cultural sights – the Castle, Bevan’s statue etc and some much needed sustenance. 1pm and fellow Beans correspondent Fraser and I jumped in the car to head to Newport. We parked up at a shopping centre and wandered off to find the hordes from the north. Newport town centre felt like if Portland Walk had been done properly – proper shops, leisure facilities, people spending money. But it was also clear where the regeneration money had run out, as you walked past the vape shops and the disaffected youths with their hands down their trackies. Anyhow, we found the drinkers sat outside The Carpenters, a lively spot with a great selection of beer, a nest of pensionable hooligans still trying to look the part and a table tennis table by the bogs. Curate that, hipsters. The two sets of fans mixed well with mutual assurances that “You’ll beat us, we’re shite” interspersed with a rundown from the conversations folk had had with Iain Wood who had been mixing with the travelling fans earlier on. More of that please, by the way. Clubs talk of a having a connection with fans but it doesn’t have to be planned events, just talk to people regularly. Explain things, answer questions. Simple stuff.
Anyway, the time came and we trudged over the river to Rodney Parade. Funny place. Two empty ends, an old school stand with a paddock down one stand and a decent Meccano build stand where we were. The paddock and its inhabitants reminded me of the primeval experience of Blyth Spartans - and that’s a compliment, by the way. Carneval de Paris blaring over the tannoy seemed incrongruous – the Usk and the Seine are rarely mistaken for each other.
Herbie et al rolled back the years to the Ultras Barrovia days with a huge flag being unfurled as the teams walked out.
We opened well and it became clear that Newport were still not much better than the shambles who came to Holker Street earlier in the season. With that in mind, maybe it was a wee bit negative to only have one up front. Their back line was fragile and maybe with Smith ratting around up front we’d have better capitalised on their mistakes, put a bit more pressure on them. Duru was lively down the right and Spence forced the keeper into a full length save on 20 minutes. Apart from that though it was fairly dull stuff with the only other talking point being a long stoppage which turned out to be a report of homophobic abuse aimed at Ben Jackson. What year is it?
Second half and again we started well – a great cross from Jackson and Spence should have done better with his header. Farman was called into action for the first time on the hour mark but the game was feeling like the nilliest nil nil as it gets. Alas, no, the general lack of quality reached a nadir on 70 – the man in the middle missed a blatant push and seconds later the hapless Cameron has steered the ball past Farman at the front post. I’d stick him up front against the Gills – keep him away from causing havoc at the back and at least he knows how to find the net.
League 2 is a ‘first goal’ league and we just don’t do comebacks so I may as well have set off home – as it was we continued to throw jabs but no knockout punch. Mahoney’s shot forced the keeper into a save at least but it just felt like we were going through the motions. 9 minutes of injury time may as well have been another 90. Game over and the reception was mixed – some frustrations aimed at certain players but overall it was a positive one. The new manager bounce still bouncing, perhaps.
Thanks to BBC Sounds I could listen to the post-match reaction – Whing’s measured assessment of our frailties and the necessary solutions a nice change from the bloodletting from our friends up by the border.
As the transfer window comes to an end we still need defensive cover and some takers for the out of favour members of the squad. We’re not generally in the relegation conversation but we’re definitely hovering with a drink in our hand, ready to make a contribution. “A full week on the training ground” will apparently see some improvements next week. Here’s hoping.
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