NEWPORT

I’ve been to Somerton Park, the old home of Newport County quite a few times following the U’s and had also seen a couple of games there as a neutral. My neutral visits were when I was in an anorak phase trying to do all 92 and latterly when the ground was about to be abandoned and left to the bulldozers, knowing I’d never see football there again. They left at the end of the 1988/89 season.

Newport County 3 Oxford United 2 on 12/09/81. Photo from Wikipedia credited to  Steve Daniels

For all these excursions just over the border I can remember the ground but it ends there. I can’t recall the surrounding area and have no recollection whatsoever of the pubs and the beer that usually go hand in hand with the away day experience. And I’ve no idea where the ghost of Somerton Park sits in relation to Rodney Parade.

So when I was assured that Newport is a ****hole by more than one person, I was prepared to keep an open mind until I’d seen the evidence myself. Were they right? You betcha. It must be a Welsh thing as, like Wrexham, the place was all but deserted not long gone 6 o’clock. There appeared to be more pubs boarded up than not and the only places open seemed to be brightly lit kebab outlets selling salmonella.

We did find one pub open but, unfortunately, I had to apologise to my companions for dragging them to the Red Lion. On occasions the Good Beer Guide is not to be trusted. This was one such occasion, big time.

Fortunately the Social Club at Rodney Parade had its doors open for anyone to wander in and the Guinness served in a plastic glass did just enough to wash away the taste of a nasty pint of Doombar.

My excuse for droning on about the state of Newport is probably my reluctance to come on to the football itself which was also served up to us Oxford fans with a healthy dollop of depression. But come on to it I have to.

United fans at Rodney Parade

As the first half was about to end I was trying to make sense of what I’d seen. Newport had looked more up for it than us. They’d had more of the ball than us. They’d had better shape than us and more control in midfield. But, we had produced the best piece of football and that had resulted in another goal from Beano and for all Newport’s possession they had not actually battered our goal. We’d kept the opposition out because that’s what we do. Clarkie had made a couple of good saves because that’s what he does.

So, whilst there was a strong argument that we had not played well, there was nothing to worry about because we were 1-0 up and would hopefully work another goal with another bit of fleeting class whilst the defence continued to be the best in League Two.

Then in the second minute of added time we conceded. It was a lucky deflection but we’d lost the ball in midfield and having ridden our luck many a time away from home this season we could no way claim to be unfortunate to go in on equal terms at the break.
I’d expect a team with genuine ambition to go up automatically to really get stuck in and go for the win. We did anything but. Yes, Newport were a pretty good side and were champing at the bit as they had been deprived of so much playing time in 2014 but our response was limp.
Not having a fit Danny Rose didn’t help but given that we had no midfield foothold I would have thought a more sensible replacement would have been Scott Davies and not Alfie Potter.

There was no argument when the home side went 2-1 up. Teams that put on pressure usually win free kicks and every now and again a good delivery results in a goal. Should our keeper have done better though?

Perhaps not, but there was no perhaps about it for goal number three. His rushing off his line when Johnny Mullins was in command led to one of the biggest cock ups in our defence for many a long day and a chance that couldn’t have been easier to convert. Seriously, plenty of Grannies the country over could have knocked that in.

Alfie did pull one back but to be honest I thought that flattered us and I never believed we would sneak an equaliser.
To make matters worse Dave Kitson limped off and we’ve now got Tom Newey suspended.

That proud away record which we were fortunate to have held on to for so long has now gone, but it was coming wasn’t it? We’ve picked up just three points from the last 12 available away from the Kassam and that’s not very good so it’s just as well we’ve now won three on the trot at home.

We’ve blown up spectacularly in the final straight in previous seasons and that straight is looming ever closer. Now is the time for Mad Dog to show us if he really can be a manager of substance.

MORECAMBE

There was so much about Saturday that had a “been there, seen that” feel about it – the pub, the performance, the conceding of a goal in stoppage time. This though is probably true for numerous fans that follow their team week after week.

I’ve visited the Palatine, and been well happy with it, a few times previously but on this occasion I thought there was a slight suffering from the too many hand pumps not enough punters syndrome.

The bronze John Eric Bartholomew stands in full pose very close to this establishment. His surname wasn’t really Morecambe you know. It’s just that he was born there. He was of course a Luton Town fan and Director. He lived not far from Kenilworth Road in Harpenden. Amazingly in a few months time it will be thirty years since he passed away.

I wonder how many times he’s had his photo taken whilst dressed up in the colours of teams he doesn’t support.

It had to be done

Even at 1-0 up with the 90th minute having been reached I had not been that impressed with our performance. I obviously became even less impressed when we conceded in stoppage time.

My mood did however rise somewhat when I heard that Fleetwood, Newport, Chesterfield and Burton had lost and Southend had dropped points too. (I’ll ignore how our next opponents got on and Scunny’s form too).

For me the Shrimps were no better than average and consider these to be the type of games that teams with convincing automatic promotion credentials should be winning.

David Connolly again showed how good he is with his back to goal when he put us one up. A massive deflection helped it past the keeper after Johnny Mullins had done well to get the ball to our veteran loanee as he headed on David Hunt’s long throw.

From time to time we had a decent passage of play but, like the opposition, were not carving out chances a plenty and never got a proper grip of the game. There were also too many misplaced passes for my liking. This may have been down to the state of the pitch. If it was it is something we have to learn to handle better because with the UK climate being what it is in 2014 there’s going to be plenty more of this.

I’m not sure that anyone got a touch on the corner when their equaliser went in. Was it one of those we’d seen coming? Well put it this way, I wasn’t surprised.

In summary I’d say not good enough but I can’t single out any one player for having a terrible game although coming away from the Globe Arena I heard a couple of Oxford fans ripping Hunt’s performance apart. I’d like to see more from Nicky Wroe but was quite pleased with Sam Long’s first League game. I also thought Scott Davies did pretty well as makeshift left back and was more than happy with Ryan Williams who showed that he has that bit of extra class which is something that could make the difference as winter turns to spring.

INJURIES & SUSPENSIONS

This is something we keep coming back to and I never have the time or inclination to check whether other clubs are as hard hit as us but I get the feeling that at most stages of the season we’ve had an unacceptable percentage of our first team squad unavailable for selection. It also seems to me that in most cases we’re not told the true extent of the problem and are given a more optimistic return date than turns out to be reality. (I’m not saying I blame the club for positive spin).

On Saturday we were missing:

Dave Kitson: Has now succumbed to a hamstring injury. They’re usually a 4-6 week job aren’t they? Throw in his suspensions, great influence that he is, I think we perhaps should ask the inevitable vfm question.

Andy Whing: The pitches we are playing on at present are made for Whingy. He is currently a massive loss. He’s been out a long time and whatever message is coming out of the club I can’t help but be a little worried that he had to be opened up again to clean a few bits and pieces out. I would not be that surprised if we don’t see him again all season.

Deane Smalley: “ Injured”. What, when, why, where and all that? We don’t know.

Jake Wright: This is one of the longest couple of weeks I’ve ever known. Obviously a lot worse than we were told. What caused our captain’s injury, other than being illegally (but not according to the referee) shoved into the goal was the net itself. The way he landed caused the nylon netting to slice through the skin to the bone. Surely a health and safety issue there somewhere. But we’re told he’s very close to being back so I’ll believe that.

Jon Meades: Not played a minute in anger all season.

Michael Raynes: Another centre half we were led to believe would be back sooner than has happened.

And to Conclude

Bring me Sunshine, in your smile,
Bring me Laughter, all the while,
In this world where we live, there should be more happiness,
So much joy you can give, to each brand new bright tomorrow,
Make me happy, with a win not a draw,
Never bring me games that bore,
Play the ball on the floor not in a tangled mess ,
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring success.

NB: There’s been nothing added to the Rage Online Crap Poetry section since September 17, 2002. It’s about time this changed.