📝 Match Preview: Newport County (A)

All you need to know ahead of City's rearranged trip to South Wales

15 February 2021

The Grecians are back in action on the road this Tuesday and will hope to continue their recent good form, despite their last two fixtures being postponed.

City's trips to Barrow and Oldham both fell to frozen pitches meaning it's ten days since they were last in action, beating Bradford City 3-2 at SJP.

They are unbeaten in February so far, with that win coming a few days after a 1-0 victory on the road at Stevenage thanks to Rory McArdle's goal.

Newport were beaten 1-0 by Southend United at Rodney Parade last Tuesday and saw their match at Port Vale called off on Saturday - one of nine matches to be postponed in League Two.

TOM PARKES' THOUGHTS

"We are looking forward to it especially after the two postponements last week," he said after matches at Barrow and Oldham were called off.

"Our main focus is on Newport and trying to get the win. As a player it's difficult to deal with the disrupted schedule but it's all part of it.

"Newport is a tough place to go and we know it's going to be a difficult pitch. We have to keep them quiet and do what we do best which is creating chances.

Hear more from Tom 👇

HOW TO WATCH

Sadly fans can't be at the match but you can get the next best thing by purchasing a match pass at the cost of just £10 in the UK. The stream includes Exeter City Club commentary score overlay and replays.

To purchase a match pass please click here.

Matchday Coverage

As usual, we’ll have the match covered across our social media channels and we’ll have a post-match interview with manager Matt Taylor and a player as they reflect on the result.

Exeter City on social media

THE GROUND

Name: Rodney Parade
Capacity: 7850
Year Opened: 1877
Address: Rodney Parade, Rodney Road, Newport, NP19 0UU

Constructed in 1877, Rodney Parade is the main stadium in Newport that is served for footballing and rugby purposes. It is currently the second oldest stadium in the Football League as of 2019, just behind Preston North End’s ground of Deepdale, which was built in 1875.

Whilst Newport play here, and have done since 2012, the ground is owned by the Welsh Rugby Union who also own fellow tenants Newport Gwent Dragons. In the past, Newport Bowls Club have been a tenant at Rodney Parade, as well as cricket teams and athletic teams as well.

There are also currently four courts that are used by the Newport Squash Club, who were formed in 1968. The record attendance at Rodney Parade, stands at 9,836 which is more than max capacity. This is due to the addition of extra seating, which was installed when Newport faced off against Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup. In the League however, the record attendance stands at just below capacity, at 7,326 when Newport pulled off that great escape in 2017 against Notts County.

NEWPORT COUNTY'S LAST MATCH

Newport County 0 Southend United 1 | 09/02/21 | EFL Sky Bet League Two

Struggling Southend sealed a surprise win in Wales as Tom Clifford's 74th minute strike gave them the three points.

PREVIOUS LEAGUE ENCOUNTER

Exeter City 1 Newport County 0 | 26/12/19 | EFL Sky Bet League Two

Lee Martin scored the only goal of the game as Exeter City recorded a 1-0 victory over Newport County AFC at St James Park last year.

Match Reports

📝 Match Report: Newport County 1 City 1

Yasmin Western reports on an incredible performance from 9-man City

16 February 2021

Exeter City picked up an incredibly hard fought and valuable point at Rodney Parade despite going down to nine men for over fourty five minutes in a 1-1 draw against Newport County AFC.

Manager Matt Taylor made three changes to the starting line up from the side that played Bradford at home 10 days ago with young keeper Harry Lee taking to the bench. With the Grecians visiting his parent club, loan signing Robbie Willmott was of course unavailable to the Exeter City Manager.

Heeding the feedback of the manager in previous interviews, Exeter City started bright iand full of pace in the opening few minutes for the visiting side, with a strong attacking threat, after often being the one to concede the early goals.

There was a very early chance for the Grecians inside the opening minute of the game as Matt Jay was free in space down the left-hand side of the pitch, but his shot was deflected out for a corner which was dealt with by the hosts.

Despite the strong start, the early drama in the game came not with a goal in the back of the net but with the official showing his red card to Alex Hartridge, as Exeter were down to 10 men inside 10 minutes. The challenge came as Nicky Maynard was brought down by light contact from the young city defender.

Understandably, the tone of the game changed for the Grecians being a player down so early on. Exeter being down a defender and looking to stave off a challenge from the hosts as they looked to monopolise on their manpower advantage.

Despite being a man down it was Exeter that managed to get the only goal of the first half through Ryan Bowman after twenty-two minutes. Ryan took the second ball down well on the half volley and despite the Exiles keeper getting himself to it, the ball wasn’t controlled and made its way into the back of the net for some welcome relief for the weakened travelling side.

It was the hosts that made the first alterations to their starting line-up through a double substitution as they brought on some more attacking threat in an attempt to overrun a weakened Exeter side.

Manager Matt Taylor made his first change in the last few minutes of first half normal time, looking to shore up the defence bringing Seymour off for Josh Key.

Unfortunately, it went from bad to worse for the Grecians as just before half-time goal-scorer Bowman was given his marching orders and joined Hartridge in the dressing room due to an aerial challenge with a Newport man that resulted in some nasty contact between Bowman’s elbow and Demetriou’s head. Despite the Newport man needing some attention from the medical staff while the officials deliberated, he was able to continue playing.

It was a nervy four minutes of additional time as the two-man advantage afforded to the hosts began to show as the pressure on the Exeter defence was clear to see. Despite losing two players it was the Grecians that went into the break ahead, with a big second half needed from the boys to walk away with anything from the game.

There was no surprise that the Grecians took every moment they could of the half time break leaving the hosts out on the pitch before the start of the second half.

As expected, the Grecians had everything to do in the second half as the majority of the play happened in their half. It was save after save from the young Icelandic keeper who despite being in his maiden year of men’s football probably had more involvement in this game than all of his previous this season combined.

Despite the frustration of having both games called off last week the rest was probably welcomed come the second half due to the intense demand put on the entire of the Exeter men remaining on the pitch as they put their bodies on the line to protect the lead they had gained in the first half.

While resolute at the back, there were opportunities for Exeter to counter, especially when the fresh and fast legs of Joel Randall were brought on at seventy-minutes as Matt Jay made way for the young winger. Within seconds of coming on he could have made it a second for the Grecians as he found himself free in the County area, laying it off for Archie but he just couldn’t wriggle free and find the back of the net.

It was save after save for the Jokull Andresson who gave absolutely everything in the second half, constantly preventing the ball from ending up in the back of the Grecian net.

Unfortunately, despite giving everything and pulling off some unbelievable displays to deny the home side Newport got their equaliser through Dom Telford who nipped a loose ball in the box in with a header.

The Newport pressure continued right up to the final second of the 5 additional minutes of added time.

Exeter City: Andresson, Caprice (Kite 86’), Sweeney, Parkes, Hartridge, Sparkes, Taylor © (Atangana 85’), Collins, Jay (Randall 70’), Seymour (Key 42’), Bowman.

Subs not used: Lee, Fisher, Dean.

Booked:

Sent off: Bowman (9’), Hartridge (45’)

Newport County: Townsend, Haynes, Demetriou, Dolan (Telford 34’), Longe-King (Lewis 34’), Farquharson (Scrimshaw 82’), Labadie ©, Sheehan, Gambin (Collins 61’), Maynard, Taylor (Amond 61’)

Subs not used: King, Hartigan,

Booked: