Just back

Hanson didn't half clock the guy with his arm, intent possibly no, bleeding nose yes, their players/staff screaming for him to be sent off definitely, ref telling them shut up explaining his decision, it wasn't an elbow so no sending off, most probable. Yes the ref wasn't great but made no game changing decisions (undeserved reds, penalties, off side/handball goals etc.) we have had worse this season and much worse before that.

Another entertaining game with us playing the (now) Grimsby Town way.

Says a lot about the mentality of the team now when our full-back is scoring from 6 yards out inside the first minute of the game.

Thought there'd be goals in the game because Newport, despite there apparent goal-shy record, looked a threat too.
Their first goal looked a bit of a calamitous one though, Macca caught between coming for it and being left stranded in no mans land, and the back 4 not dealing with it or following men. Great ball in from their wide man, but poor one to concede in my opinion.

Got lucky when Jamille Matt skied it into the roof of the Pontoon from close range, but I thought we were generally the better side and were trying to play football. Hanson with a lot of good hold up play and lay-offs, Vernam running at people and looking a threat, forcing the foul for our 2nd. Great free kick from Benson to put us 2-1 up just before half-time.

I liked the positivity of our first substitution at 2-1. Seeing Green about to come on it would've been safe to assume that it was going to be for Hanson or one of the front 3 at least. But bringing Whitehouse off (who wasn't playing poorly actually, and played a lovely pass to CV for our first goal) was quite an attacking move. It left us with a front 3 and then Tilley central in midfield as a very attack-minded player at the tip of the 3 in midfield. Two minutes later Tilley dribbles through the middle and the ball falls to Hanson who shin-rolls one in.

Newport's 2nd goal made things a little bit nervy again, although I still always back us to score again. As opposed to the one the other week that Macca pushed back out in front of goal, this one was much more of a reactionary save where it was enough just to keep it out of goal and there wasn't time to adjust and push it out and away from goal. Waterfall had got drawn into charging to block the initial shot, and Amond had cleverly drifted off to the left and was on his own to knock it in.

Clarke came on and added some more composure in the final third, with prime example being our 4 goal - everyone in the crowd screams "man on", but he's a good player and is already well aware there's pressure about to come from behind him, he lets the guy come up to him, keeps his body between the ball and the player, then glides forward with some close control in the box when he knows they can't dive in on him, and then just sets it for Max.

I think our "Saturday full-backs" will be back in at the weekend. Hewitt and Garmston didn't do too badly, but Hendrie is better than Hewitt and Garmston still looks a bit rusty like he's getting up to speed (understandably if he hasn't played much this season).

Clifton had a decent game, did a lot of mopping things up and generally kept things simple. A bit sloppy on a few occasions but generally had a good game.

Tilley I thought was very good and showed why Holloway was raving about him when he signed him. A comment I've made about him today is that he looks like a player we've got on loan from a Premier League/Championship club, like Glennon/Benson. Great with the ball at his feet, great technique, great balance, good strength on the ball, good skill in 1v1's and looking to be creative. Just looks classy and I think will be a very important player for us.

Vernam had his best game since Colchester after a few quiet games since. Saw a lot of the ball, especially first half. And actually mixed it up a lot more last night too, going outside on the left a lot more than he usually does, rather than just cutting infield to shoot every time.

Sadly I don't think Green offered anything in his half an hour and c@cked up a simple pass that would've played Max Wright in on goal late on. I dont think Green suits a position in our current system really, I only see him as being effective in a front 2, which we are not going to play in the main.

Just really enjoying watching us play. Very surprised at the crowd last night. Even though it's the end of the month, anything under 4000 is quite low so surprising to see it that low when we're playing proper football and scoring goals.

Regards Green, he was having pictures and talking to fans at the end.  Didn't look like he was sulking.

That said, can't argue with any of the points raised about him on the pitch.  Genuinely struggle to see what he offers and it baffles me that he seems to hold almost cult status with some.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Regards Green, he was having pictures and talking to fans at the end.  Didn't look like he was sulking.

That said, can't argue with any of the points raised about him on the pitch.  Genuinely struggle to see what he offers and it baffles me that he seems to hold almost cult status with some.

I couldn't understand the logic of Jolley in signing Green. Wrong side of 30 and playing in a non-league team that just got promoted and then released. Wrong call IMO.

Prior to last night Newport had conceded the second fewest goals in the division, at an average of less than one per game, so that puts last night's performance into perspective. That the goals came from four different players is most welcome as it shows there's not an over reliance on one player. That also takes some of the pressure off Charles Vernam as well. It's all looking healthy at the moment....

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Hanson didn't half clock the guy with his arm, intent possibly no, bleeding nose yes, their players/staff screaming for him to be sent off definitely, ref telling them shut up explaining his decision, it wasn't an elbow so no sending off, most probable. Yes the ref wasn't great but made no game changing decisions (undeserved reds, penalties, off side/handball goals etc.) we have had worse this season and much worse before that.

I thought we had a good shout for a penalty when Clifton was barged over when running into the penalty area when their player was no where near to the ball and just took him out.
Overall I thought the ref was crap.

Is that right? There was only one corner last night. For a fairly high-scoring game, that's very unusual.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Is that right? There was only one corner last night. For a fairly high-scoring game, that's very unusual.

That's what we were saying, especially with the corner coming at the end of the game.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Hanson didn't half clock the guy with his arm, intent possibly no, bleeding nose yes, their players/staff screaming for him to be sent off definitely, ref telling them shut up explaining his decision, it wasn't an elbow so no sending off, most probable. Yes the ref wasn't great but made no game changing decisions (undeserved reds, penalties, off side/handball goals etc.) we have had worse this season and much worse before that.

Ref said not all elbows are red cards apparently

Quoted from arryarryarry

That's what we were saying, especially with the corner coming at the end of the game.

The BBC stats had it down as just the one for us. Though I'm often sceptical about their match stats.