The Opponent: Newport County
Not much left to say about Saturday apart from wow. We sit 4th in the League and rightfully so, which in one sense reels out the old cliché, “I don’t care if we go out tonight, concentrate on the league”, which is all very true as we want out of League 1 as soon as possible,, but on the other hand, we don’t want us to lose any games, especially against the Welsh.
Newport has been a port since medieval times, when a castle was built by the Normans. The town outgrew the earlier Roman town of Caerleon, immediately upstream, and gained its first charter in 1314. It grew significantly in the 19th century, when its port became the focus of coal exports from the eastern valleys of South Wales. Until the rise of Cardiff from the 1850s, Newport was Wales' largest coal-exporting port. It was the site of the last large-scale armed insurrection in Britain, the Newport Rising of 1839 led by the Chartists. During the 20th century, the docks declined in importance, but Newport remained an important centre for manufacturing and engineering. It was granted city status in 2002 and even hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010. Newport is the 3rd largest city in Wales. At the mouth of the River Usk, the Sims Metal Management plant hosts the world's largest industrial shredder for scrap metal with access by road, rail and sea. The plant, which is also the world's largest car crusher which was featured in the TV series, How do they do it.
Last Time Out – Shrewsbury 0 Newport 0. The battle of the Welsh lower league powerhouses proved to be rather dull.
Starting XI – Day, Jones, Hughes, Poole (Jackson), Chapman, Byrne, Minshull, Sandell, Willmott, Piggot, Zebroski. I’m guessing that must be journeyman local Chris Zebroski?
They have served us both – Andy Gurney, Ashan Holgate, Stuart James. Jimmy Kelso, Louis Lean, Billy Lucas, Alan Mayes, Louis Page, Ken Stroud, Rod Thomas, Jack Webb, Bert Young, Bobby Woodruff, Gary Thorne, Chris Taylor, Bob Scott, Ken McPherson, Gary Marshall, Norman Low, Alec Lambie, Steve Jenkins, Wynne Hooper, Jon Hallworth, Bobby Weale, Pat Terry, Michael Smith, Kevin Moore, Harry Martin, Syd Lowry, Ray Lawrance, Dai Jones, Ralph Hunt, Tom Helsby, Steve Aizelwood, Paul Bodin, Lance Carr, Gary Emmanuel, Mark Draycott, Steve Cowe, David Cole, George Barker, Jimmy Gilligan, Arthur Briggs, Roy Carter, Bob Collins, David Cunningham, Dai Edwards, Will Evans, Howard Goddard, Steve Berry, Charlie Griffin, Alex Ferguson, John Emanuel, Albert Derrick, Chris Collins, William Chivers, Jack Brinton.
One From The Past – December 26th 1980 – Att 7’086. Newport 0 Swindon 2. A goal in either half from Chris Kamara and Russell Lewis made it a happy journey home for the travelling fans. Both teams were battling near the wrong end of Division Three at the time.
The Odds – Newport 5/2 Draw 12/5 Swindon 11/8
The Son Says – After the thrashing of The Blades, he seems confident we will keep scoring hatfuls. 3-0 victory.
The Prediction – Tougher than it looks on paper, big night for Ty Belford, good luck. 0-2 win, goals from Smith and Kasim, 2’980 in attendance with 444 from Swindon.
And Finally – As part of the city's "Big Splash" festival, on 30 August 2010, 45-year-old French circus star Olivier Roustan from Toulouse, performed the highest ever wirewalk in Europe, along the top cable of the Newport City Footbridge. Sod that.