Newport City 1-2 Carmarthen Town

It was an even and cagey opening 25 minutes, with clear-cut chances at a premium. James Parry had the first real opportunity for City, meeting a corner with a free header. However, his effort powered inches over the bar.

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The Steelmen then went agonisingly close on the half hour mark, when Jonah Williams’ low cross found Rio Booth umarked inside the six yard box. Frustratingly though, Booth turned the ball inexplicably wide with the goal at his mercy. Parry threatened again moments later, rising to meet another corner. However, his header flew narrowly over as City began to turn the screw.

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Despite the Steelmen’s growing pressure, Carmarthen struck against the run of play in the 33rd minute. A swift counter-attack down the right flank ended with Luke Cummings’ cross deflected into his own net by City’s Drew Heffernan.

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Worse was to follow just three minutes later after a mix-up in the Steelmen’s defence. Dion Phillips took full advantage, robbing City of possession before dinking a composed finish over goalkeeper Alex Harris to double the visitors’ lead.

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​​HT 0-2

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The Steelmen emerged for the second half with far greater purpose and quickly began to apply sustained pressure, as they looked for a route back into the contest. A defence splitting pass released Samuel Johnson through on goal, but he dragged his low effort inches past the right post.

 

City continued to push forward and were denied amid an almighty scramble inside the six-yard box, with the ball eventually falling into the hands of Carmarthen goalkeeper Lee Idzi.

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The Steelmen’s pressure finally told in the 75th minute when Thomas Lynch slipped through Adam Ward, who kept his composure to fire a neat low finish into the bottom right corner.

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Carmarthen almost restored their two-goal cushion soon after, but Liam Thomas fired narrowly wide as the visitors threatened on the break. The visitors went close again moments later, with Phillips acrobatically striking just wide.

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City responded by almost finding an equaliser when Williams burst through on goal, only to see his powerful effort rise over the bar. The Steelmen kept pressing, and Lynch was next to threaten after being found inside the area, but his close-range effort was comfortably gathered by Idzi.

 

City’s final chance arrived deep into stoppage time when a corner delivery picked out Lynch, whose header agonisingly bounced off the crossbar and wide just seconds before the final whistle.

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FT 1-2

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Newport City Line-Up

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​Harris, Owen, Parry, Bregua, Booth (Sub: Ward), Johnson, Kenton, Williams, Smith (Sub: Wilson), Heffernan (Sub: Lynch), Steadman (Sub: Lonergan)

 

Unused Subs  – Jones, Bodenham, Quarterly

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Written by Marc Davies.

 

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