Newport 2-2 Carlisle review

A busy day at Newport ended in a chaotic 2-2 draw between Newport and Carlisle as 2 interim managers go head to head. Earlier today county appointed James rowberry as their new manager. The ex cardiff coach was in attendance tonight and he'd be impressed with what he seen. 

Nevermind a cold Tuesday night in stoke this was a wet Tuesday night in Newport. Carlisle's start only dampened the mood as Joe Riley put the visitors ,who hadn't won in the league since the 4th of September against Salford into the lead pretty much straight from kick off. As the half went on though county grew into it with Telford going through on goal but the offside flag stopped his charge. In the 28th minute Telford got his goal! Haynes set him up and he scored. Remarkably it was like London buses as 3 minutes later he had his 2nd with a superb goal. County went on to control the first half but couldn't add a 3rd. 

The 2nd half was chaotic to say the least. Carlisle came out and what ever their interim manager said at half time it worked as they looked the more threatening at the start of the 2nd half but nothing came of it until in the 67th minute they had a penalty after Ed upson was judged to have handled the ball in the box leading to a red card for him. The penalty was tucked away by Zach clough (no relation to Brian). Carlisle tried to make their man advantage count and they would have if it wasn't for Joe Day who pulled off a few worldie saves to denie Carlisle from getting the goal which would give them all 3 points. In the 85th minute county were down to 9 men as Ryan Haynes, after a bad foul was send off after picking up his 2nd yellow card. If anyone was going to win the game it would have been Carlisle who threw the kitchen sink at county but in the end county held on to the point thanks to some rugged defending and a few top class saves from Joe Day. The point leaves county in 13th on 17 points and were now unbeaten in 4 in the league. 

There is plenty for New manager James Rowberry to be impressed by. Oli cooper had and other good game and picked up another assist, his 3rd in 2 games. His influence is slowly growing in this team. He's built up a partnership with the front 2 of Baker-Richardson and Telford. Telfords brace puts him onto 4 goals for the season which makes him county's top scorer in the league this season. It's still unknown what Wayne Hatswell's position will be but it sounds like he could stick around under the new manager as they're friends and did their coaching badges together. 

A breakdown of the game is coming tomorrow on look back in amber at 7pm on Newport City Radio with me, Stephen and Lamsie. Also don't forget to follow us on twitter @Absoutecounty and on Instagram @absolutely_county       

    

Newport county 3-4 Arsenal Review

 Well if anyone told you that this would be a boring game of football then they couldn't be more wrong as Newport County and Arsenal's u21 played out an entertaining and for county a narrow 4-3 loss.

Arsenal were under strength as a number of their academy players are currently away on International duty with their respective nations. But with Arsenal being a top club you'd expect who ever they put out would be class. County were much changed, 11 in all from the entertaining 0-0 draw in the game from Saturday against Bradford with fringe players and academy graduates making up the squad a lot of the squad. 

Previous to this in county's last 2 games in the group stage of this competition against u21 sides there has been 14 goals in them. The 5-0 loss against Norwich last season and The close 5-4 defeat against West ham's academy. So plenty of goals were to be expected. 

Newport looked like they lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Collins through the middle in the no.10 position. County started off well with Lewis Collins intercepting a loose pass but seen his shot go high into the Newport night sky. As the half went on Arsenal began to set up base in County's half with them creating one or 2 chances. In the 19th minute a well taken Jordan Greenidge goal put us 1-0 up. Then after a short break in play county looked like they were court sleeping as Omari Hutchinson slotted home the equalizer in the 34th minute. Hutchinson looked lively for the gunner's all night long in my opinion. The 2 teams went in at the break all square at 1-1. County looked good in the first half even with the 11 changes. I thought Aneurin Livermore's influence in the game grew as the half went on.    

At the break county made 2 changes with Timmy Abraham and Alex Fisher coming on for Jermaine Hylton and Jordan Greenidge. Fisher made an instant impact as he forced a worldie save out of Ovie Ejeheri in the Arsenal goal. The gunner's took the lead via a fantastic Salah-Edine Oulad M'hand free kick from the edge of the county penalty area. We did to Arsenal what they did to us in the first half as Timmy Abraham scored after a quick restart from the port. A few short moments later and county took the lead as the other half time substitute Alex Fisher managed to get his shot through a crowd of players and into the back of the Arsenal net. As it stood county were going to be getting the £10k bonus on offer for the winner of the game which would be a welcome boost financially for the club. A few Arsenal changes later and they managed to find the equilzer through James Olayinka. The game was there for the taking for either side. If it was a draw at full time then the game would have gone to penalties to see who would get an additional point. Penalties weren't needed though as the newly introduced Charles sagoe junior scored the winner for Arsenal with 2nd to go. 

Newport played well and Interim manager Wayne Hatswell will have 1 or 2 Selection head aches for the weekends trip to Exeter. Jordan Greenidge looked very impressive for County in the first half but for me Jake Cain was the man of the match this evening. 

Let me know what you made of the game in the comments below! Also don't forget to follow us on twitter @Absoutecounty and on Instagram @absolutely_county                 

              

Tranmere Rovers preview

 After the disappointment of the 1st defeat of the season last weekend away to Mansfield attentions turn to promotion chasing Tranmere rovers at Prenton Park.

Tranmere are familiar opponents to the port as it was them who dramatically beat us in the 2019 play off final at wembley. Don't expect many goals in the game as the past 5 games have either been won by the odd goal or have finished 0-0. Neither Tranmere or Newport have had the better of this fixture in the recent past with the draw being the most popular result. In the past 7 meetings between the two both Newport and Tranmere have 2 wins a piece and 3 draws.

Tranmere have reverted back to tried and trusted as they brought former back to back promotion winning  manager Mickey Melon back to the club after his not so successful spell in charge of Dundee United up in Scotland. Tranmere have made a good start to the season. They are currently unbeaten in the league with a win over Walsall and 2 draws against Swindon and Port vale respectively. This leaves them 7th in the early season table.

County's first defeat of the season last weekend away at Mansfield was a very close affair with both teams very evenly matched in terms of possession, shots and shots on target. Even though we lost, this could be seen as a really good performance as Mansfield are one of the favorites for automatic promotion this season and they've started off that way. Mickey Demetriou and Matty Dolan could return for County this weekend and this would be a welcome return for the team. They're a few selection headaches for Manager Michael Flynn with the 2 striker spots and the 3 in midfield all up for grabs.

This is a big week for the club as in midweek premier league Southampton visit a full capacity Rodney Parade in the league cup. p.s preview on the way for that one. This will be the first game at Rodney parade this season and the first time we have a full capacity since the start of the pandemic.

Overall I think County will win 1-0. This is my personal opinion let me know what you think in the comments below! Also don't forget to follow us on twitter @Absoutecounty and on Instagram @absolutely_county                

mansfield town preview

 After another famous cup upset in mid week attentions turn back to the league as we travel to the one call stadium to take on Mansfield town. 

County and mansfield have recent history especially at the start of the season with county facing mansfield twice on the opening day 2 out of the past 4 seasons. We also faced off in the 2018-19 sky bet league 2 play off semi final in which County won via the dreaded penalty shootout. 

Mansfield have had the better of county recently with Mansfield winning 9 out of the past 18 games with county winning 3 and 6 draws. We have a rotten record at the One call stadium, we haven't won in 90 minutes since 2012. Mansfield have had a mixed start to the season. They won their opening league game 2-1 against Bristol Rovers but lost mid week 3-0 against Preston in the league cup. Conceding 4 goals in 2 games must fill county with optimism of a few goals tomorrow. Their manager is Nigel Clough, son of legendary manager Brian Clough. This was a huge surprise as Clough had always managed clubs at a higher level than league 2 and has vast experience coaching at championship level.  

 Newport have been good starters in the league. We've been in and around the top 3 at the start of the season in every season since Michael Flynn took over in 2017 and after opening back to back wins and clean sheets it looks like this season will be no different.

I fully expect Flynny to make a whole number of changes from the team the beat Ipswich in midweek with 11 changes made for that game. However I don't think that there will be 11 changed again with some impressive performances in that game with Timmy Abraham and Jordan Greenidge linking up well up top and Finn Azaz impressing just behind those 2. 

Overall I think county will win 2-0. This is my personal opinion let me know what you think in the comments below! Also don't forget to follow us on twitter @Absoutecounty and on Instagram @absolutely_county    

 

 

 

 

Ipswich town preview

The 2020-21 carabao cup turned out to be historic as Newport county reached the last 16 of the competition for the first time in their history and now we look go progress even further as we travel up to Portman road to take on League one promotion favorites Ipswich town. 

Like Newport, Ipswich have also gone through major change this summer, 14 new signings have come in so far this summer with the likes of Louie Barry, who scored against Liverpool for a covid hit Aston villa side in the Fa cup 3rd round back in January. They've also acquired the likes of Conor Chaplin and county academy graduate Lee Evans. Ipswich drew they're opening game of the season 2-2 with Newport's conqueror in the play off final, Morecambe. 

County are looking to keep up they're famous cup record over the past few years in both this competition and the Fa cup. In this specific competition county have got to the 2nd round at the minimum in each of the past 5 seasons but only once in that time have we managed to get past round 2 and that was last season. 

 Newport will look to give out some more first team debuts in this game with 7 players still waiting for their first team debut for the club. A bunch of new players features in the opening day win against oldham with Ed Upson and James Clarke catching the eye. In my opinion county should make a few changes to the line up that played against oldham but the players we bring in wont look out of place because we truly have strength in depth with 2 or 3 of similar quality.

County will look to build momentum heading into the very tricky away trips coming up due to the pitch at Rodney parade being relayed. Due to this look back in amber will be back after the first home game whenever that might be. 

Overall I think county will win 2-1. This is my personal opinion let me know what you think in the comments below! Also don't forget to follow us on twitter @Absoutecounty and on Instagram @absolutely_county    

2020-21 season review

The 2020-21 season was a season like no other with the on going covid-19 pandemic calling the previous season to a halt and a disappointing follow up season to the play off final defeat of 2019 left fans with little hope for the campaign ahead. Over the summer county made 11 new signings including Wales u21 centre back Brandon cooper, Scott Twine and 41 year old county nemesis Kevin Ellison on a free from Morecambe left county ready to enter the battle of the 46 game sky bet league 2 season.

County started the season with an impressive 2-0 win over Swansea city in the league cup via a Tristan Abrahams brace, in which I believe is the greatest of all our cup upsets over the past few years. County began they're 2020-2021 league campaign with a 1-1 draw away to Scunthorpe. As the month went on county's impressive cup run did too with wins against Cambridge United and championship promotion hopefuls Watford led to a last 16 game against Premier league outfit Newcastle united at Rodney parade in which county held on to the lead until a worldy of a goal from Jonjo Shelvey took the game to penalties in which county lost 5-4.

Under Flynn Newport have been strong starters in the league and this season was no different with 1 defeat in 10 left County top of the league for the 1st time in 40 years. A lot of this success was down to Swindon town loanee Scott twine who was involved in 3 goals and 3 assists in this time. This left Twine as a fans favorite at Rodney parade. At the start of November Newport got they're Fa cup campaign underway with a 2-1 win away to Leyton Orient. Also in November, 2019-20 losing papa John trophy semi finalists Newport county exited the competition with a whimper by not even picking up a point in their group.

County moved into the 3nd round of the Fa cup with a dominant 3-0 win over league rivals Salford city in the 2nd round of the fa cup. 2 defeats in 9 left County top on Christmas day by a couple of points. 10 of the last 12 teams top at Christmas have gone on to get promoted and the other 2 managed to get into the play offs.

In January 7 loan players got recalled including key players Scott Twine and Brandon Cooper which lead to a mini squad overhaul in January. In football new players take time to gel and we certainly seen this in both league and cup as due to circumstances not in our control our first game of 2021 seen us come up against premier league Brighton and Hove Albion in the 3rd round of the Fa cup. Just like the Newcastle game in the league cup seen county lose on penalties. In the league the outstanding form which seen county go to the league couldn't continue as 1 win in 8 dropped us from top of the league to just about in the play offs in 7th.

Since then county's form went too inconsistent with 5 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats in 14 games. County were still in the hunt for a play off spot as they sat 7th. They had a pretty strong run in as we went unbeaten in our last 5 games of the season keeping clean sheets in all 5 seeing us finish 5th and the play offs. In the play offs we met Forest Green Rovers who county don't have the best of records against with Forest Green winning 2 out of the last 4 meetings with county winning 1 and 1 draw. However thanks to Matty Dolan and Lewis Collins seen county take a 2 goal lead up to the New Lawn. County's good work down at Rodney Parade was undone in the first 8 minutes. After half time a goal frenzy took place with 3 goals in 15 mins seen county at the time progress into the league 2 play off final until former County hero Jamille Matt take the tie into extra time. In which Nicky Maynard score with one of the last kicks of the game. At wembley County took on Morecambe who were looking to go to league 1 for the first time in their history. After 2 poor referreeing decisions Carlos Mendes Gomes broke county hearts as Morecambe won 1-0  to take the last place in league 1. 

We are back for good now as we look to grow bigger and better for the upcoming season so watch this space. Let us know what you think down below in the comments. Also don't forget to drop us a follow on twitter @absoultelycounty and Instagram @absoultely_county               

why the european super league makes sense and works.

It doesn't.

Morcambe vs newport county preview

 On Saturday Newport county travel to the globe arena to take on fellow promotion chasers Morecambe which marks nearly a year since the 2019-20 season was halted early due to covid-19. 

With 4 wins in their 7 games Morecambe have been the surprise package this season in league 2 with many fans and bookmakers making them favorites for relegation at the start of the campaign but Derek adams' men currently sit 5th in the table, 3 points off top spot cheltenham having played a game more than the robins. The danger men for Morecambe are winger Carlos Mendes Gomes and midfielder Aaron Wildig. Gomes is Morecambe's top scorer this season with 12 goals and Wildig has got 10 goal contributions with 7 goals and 3 assists a real danger man!

Newport county go into this game on the back of some much needed confidence with back to back wins, first time since December coming against Colchester and Bradford in the past week. I fully believe that county have refound their form and the attacking style of play that was there at the start of the season. For me we lost our identity through the sticky patch in our form over the past few months and the pitch at Rodney parade was to blame for that which we addressed on a previous blog. On the back of our come from behind 2-1 win against Bradford in the past week we will be confident of the victory!

Morecambe have on of the best home records in the division with 9 wins 4 draws and 3 defeats at adams park. They have made it a fortress with 55.3% of their points coming at home this season. They have only 1 defeat in 14 games so its going to be a tough ask but county fans will have fond memory of going to morecambe as almost 2 years ago Jamille Matt scored a late equalizer which secured the point we needed to get us into the play offs. Morecambe shade the recent head to head with 7 wins over the exiles whilst we have 5 wins over the shrimps and there has been 4 draws. 

 On the latest episode of look back in amber I predicted 2-1 Newport, Stephen predicted 1-1 and Dan Frazer went with 1-0 to Morecambe. Will any of us be right? 

This is my personal opinion let me know what you think in the comments below! Also don't forget to follow us on twitter @Absoutecounty and on Instagram @absolutely_county    

Could a move from Rodney parade kickstart our promotion charge?

Before our last home game against Stevenage at Rodney parade news came out that Newport county have made a request to the EFL to play our next 2 home league matches away from Rodney parade, the first of which being tonight against Bradford at the Cardiff City stadium! Our form of late has taken a dip with 3 wins in our last 12 games in the league has seen us slip down the table to 6th in the league. Of that dip our home form has been a huge concern! At the start of the season Rodney Parade was a fortress but of late our home form has taken a turn for the worse with our last win coming just over a month ago against Grimsby. Many fans have put this down to the state of the pitch and I agree the playing service at Rodney Parade has become unplayable, it's effected our promotion push as at Christmas we were top and now were just about in the play offs and a move away from our home in my opinion is the best thing to kick start the push for promotion.  The pitch at Rodney parade has effected performances and our form. We love to play passing, attacking football and the pitch has stopped that with the style of last season which failed returning or as we on look back in amber call it "hoofball". The pitch at the Cardiff city stadium is in immaculate condition as we move there on a temporary bases. It has seen Cardiff city sky rocket up the sky bet championship into the play off spots and also Wales' male national team play there. 

 

This is my personal opinion let me know what you think in the comments below! Also don't forget to follow us on twitter @Absoutecounty and on Instagram @absolutely_county

Newport vs Brighton preview

 Newport county will look to add another giant killing to the carabao cup upsets already caused this season as we take on Brighton and hove Albion in this Sunday's fa cup 3rd round tie at Rodney Parade.

Already this season we've beaten Championship sides Watford and Swansea in the league cup and narrowly missed out on a place in the quarter finals as we lost on penalties to Newcastle United. County also have a Good recent history in the Fa cup as we have beaten the likes of Leeds united, Middlesbrough and Leicester city and ran Tottenham and Man city real close in the past few years. Now we look to add Brighton to the list 

County go into this game on a bit of a poor run of form with only 1 win in their past 5 games with 2 draws and 2 defeats in that time. I don't think this is a cause for concern because this game is a one off game for the club and form goes out of the window for a big game like this. Brighton on the other hand are in worse form with 1 win in their last 16 games in all competitions which might give county fans a bit of optimism going into the game. 

Ahead of this game I spoke to Brighton fan page on Instagram to get the Brighton angle ahead of this game. They expect Brighton to make a lot of changes from the game against Wolves last Saturday. They expect 9 changes from that game with only Joel veltman and Adam Webster to keep their spots in the team with a lot of youngsters to come in. They said that 2 players to look out for are striker Andi Zeqiri and winger Percy Tau who has caused a lot of excitement among the Brighton fan base after he was recalled from his loan at Anderlecht in the week. They said they that there could be an upset on Sunday due to our Fa cup pedigree over the past few years. They predict a 2-1 win for Brighton but their not the most confident. 

 This will be the first game without both Scott twine and Brandon cooper who have both been recalled by their parent clubs in the past week. I believe that this could affect us because they were key players for us but we have one of our strongest squads in the recent past so we will have players that can step in at these positions. 

I think the magic of the Fa cup will be there on Sunday as I think we will beat Brighton 2-1 in a tight game but it won't be the same without the fans that have been key in previous upsets in this competition. 

This is my opinion let me know what you think in the comments below! Also don't forget to follow me on Instagram @absolutely_county and twitter @Absolutecounty

Life without scott twine

 The news that all county fans were dreading has come as its been confirmed that Scott Twine has been recalled by his parent club Swindon and who's to blame them as he has be involved in 41.9% of our goals this season as county sit 2nd in league 2, a point behind leaders Carlisle with a game in hand. With 6 goals and 7 assists in the league this season Swindon need him badly as they sit 23rd in league 1 and 2 points from safety. So with this news whats next for the club and how do we go about replacing him?

Firstly Scott has been arguably the best player in league 2 this season and finding a player to replace him is going to be really hard but here are some options for Michael Flynn to consider before he makes his final decision. 

1. look at players we already have. 

There are 1 or 2 players that we already have in the squad that could fill the position that Twine left. One of them which many fans will say will be his replacement is Jamie Devitt who has lots of experience at this level and at league 1. However personally I'd love to see Lewis Collins given an opportunity. When ever he's played for the club he's impressed most of the fan base and like Scott Twine was when he first came in Collins is a bit of an unknown quantity and has plenty to prove and improve on. The similarities between Collins and Twine are many! They play in the same position for starters and they have a lot of pace for an attacking midfielder. Collins might not have the same experience that Devitt has but if your good enough then your old enough.

2. look in the January transfer window.

The reason why Twine has gone is because of the January transfer window is open and because of this Flynny could be tempted to use his contacts and try and find another outstanding loan player. In the past we've managed to have many outstanding players on loan that have now gone on to bigger and better things for example Ben White is now a first team starter at Brighton and could feature in the Fa cup 3rd round match at Rodney Parade on Sunday. I've heard that County are interested in Tottenham midfielder Jack roles on loan which is very close to being done and Swansea forward Liam Cullen is another player we hold an interest in. These 2 players would be very good additions to the squad as both have played at a higher level. 

3. Just sign Scott Twine.

According to reports county have made a bid to sign Twine on a permanent deal. If the bid is turned down then our hopes of resigning Twine will rest on Sunday's Fa cup tie against Brighton and hove Albion. If we win then we'll get more money into the club because of progressing. If we don't get him this month then we could hope that he doesn't renew is contract at Swindon which is up in the summer then we can sign him on a free.  

This is my opinion on what could happen without Scott twine make sure you let me know what you think in the comments below! Also don't forget to follow me on twitter @Absolutecounty and Instagram @absoutely_county