Haverfordwest County 5-0 Newport City

 

First Half

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Haverfordwest started the stronger, immediately putting City on the back foot. The hosts came close to taking an early lead inside the opening ten minutes when Ben Fawcett met a cross into the box, but the forward couldn’t keep his header down, glancing the effort just over the bar.

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The Steelmen, however, managed to weather the early storm and began to grow into the game. They nearly took the lead themselves shortly after, when Lathan Garrett rose highest to meet a corner, only to see his powerful header flash inches wide of the right post.

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The hosts responded strongly to that scare, creating two quickfire chances of their own. Ben Ahmun glanced a header that was confidently held by City keeper Cohen Riella. Moments later, Ahmun broke into the box and curled a low effort towards the far corner, but Riella was equal to it, getting down well to make another smart save.

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The Steelmen responded with a promising spell of their own and came close twice through Harvey Sing. First, the defender saw a goalbound strike deflect narrowly wide for a corner. Moments later, Sing tried his luck again with an audacious lobbed effort that almost dipped into the top-left corner. but Haverfordwest keeper Ifan Knott was alert to the danger and gathered it comfortably.

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But just as City looked to be growing into the contest, things went badly wrong late in the half as the hosts struck twice in two minutes to seize full control.

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The opener came when Elliot Scotcher powered a header towards goal from close range, forcing a stunning reaction save on the goal line from Riella. Unfortunately for the Steelmen, the rebound fell straight to Fawcett, who made no mistake in smashing the ball home from close range.

 

Before the visitors could recover, the hosts added a second. Iori Humphreys broke into space down the flank and delivered a low ball across the face of goal, where Dan Watkins arrived unmarked at the back post to tap into an empty net.

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There was still time for Riella to make another fine stop on the stroke of half-time, tipping Rhys Abbruzzese’s powerful near-post drive over the bar with a strong one-handed save to keep the score at 2–0 going into the break.

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HT 0-2

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The second half brought no respite for City, as Haverfordwest continued to assert their dominance. Just after the hour mark, the hosts added a third. Shephard kept the ball in play on the byline and found an unmarked Ahmun, who calmly slotted a low shot into the bottom right corner.

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Things worsened for the Steelmen in the 73rd minute, as Fawcett completed his brace in style. The striker wriggled free from the City defence before guiding a composed shot inside the right post to make it 4–0.

 

Five minutes later, the hosts added a fifth to cap a ruthless attacking display. After a slick passage of play, Shephard picked out the bottom right-hand corner with a precise left-footed finish.

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The Steelmen did push for a consolation late on, with George Kapza testing Knott with a well-struck effort that drew a solid save from the hosts’ keeper. The game ended soon after, as City, were left to rue a ruthless display from the hosts.

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​​FT 0-5

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Newport City Line-Up

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Riella, Noyes (Sub: Taylor St Clair), Ward, Cooper, Garrett, Hillman, Jarvis (Sub: Rowe), Bregua (Sub: Davies), McLaggon (Sub: Perrett), Cadwallader (Sub: Kabza), Sing

 

Unused Subs:

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Thompson, Bloom

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