MATCH REPORT: Newport County 2-0 Colchester United

Colchester came to South Wales on a bright sunny day following recently good form in League 2 having won 4 from their last 5 games. Newport were not fazed by that record and should have scored within 4 minutes when Amond wove his way through the U’s defence but his last touch proved a bit too strong as he approached the 6 yard box and Colchester’s keeper was thankful to collect the effort. Other than that close call there was very little for either keeper to do in the first half as defences at both ends of the pitch were strong.  Frank Nouble, the Colchester front man, was creating a few problems for the Newport defence and with one or two heavy challenges it drew the wrath of the home supporters each time he touched the ball. This was very unfair because last season, he was a regular in the Newport colours – perhaps the locals were a bit disappointed that he had left them.

The second half was a much more interesting affair. Within 10 minutes after the break a forced corner against the visitors down the right flank was delivered low and a glancing header at the near post deflected the ball to Jamie Matt who finished off at the far post. This prompted Colchester to “up a gear” since they put much more urgency into their game. However, there was a particularly poor refereeing decision that could have altered things. A challenge for a 50/50 ball in the Colchester half left the U’s defender on the floor and although the ball was free with Nouble in space in the Newport half that was weakly defended at the time, the Referee decided that the challenge warranted a free kick to Colchester. A decision to play on would surely have benefited the visitors much more.

Newport doubled their lead shortly before the hour mark when a perfectly timed through ball in the inside left channel found Cameron Pring who, despite being pursued by a couple of defenders, placed the ball beyond the approaching goalkeeper in a very professional manner.  Shortly after that the Referee missed penalising a back pass by a Colchester defender which was picked up by his goalkeeper. Maybe this was the leveller for his previous misjudgement.

Newport were resolute in defence notwithstanding the very accurate close passing of their visitors but the final pass just never seemed to register. There was one goal-bound shot that the Newport keeper just managed to get his hands to only for it to land on the crossbar and drop almost on the goal line. It was scrambled clear. On another occasion, a terrible mix up in the Newport 6 yard box almost gifted Colchester a goal but somehow the ball was cleared when on another day it could have resulted in a goal.

Towards the end of the match, Newport were just as close to scoring again when a cross delivered from the right wing was met in the 6 yard box by a Newport forward who, under pressure, could only guide the ball to hit the post.

Overall this was a very competitive match which really needed a goal in the first half in order to ramp up the action. Newport probably deserved their win if only because of their response to Colchester’s enthusiasm to level the score which left the visitor’s  defence somewhat short of numbers at times. But having said that, the referee’s decision on the 50/50 challenge in the second half with the score at 1-0 could have altered the position significantly.

This result meant that Newport leap-frogged Colchester in League 2 and took their place in the automatic promotion spot.

words Mike Commins, D3D4 contributor