By Ellis Sheppard
Newport County breezed past Harrogate at Rodney Parade on Saturday afternoon, securing a deserved 3-0 victory.
Once again Newport started the game brightly and it only took them two minutes to take the lead.
The goal came through Cameron Evans who met Shane McLoughlin’s corner with a well-placed header.
Newport were denied a penalty just two minutes after when Courtney Baker-Richardson appeared to be wiped out with a tackle inside the box.
But County didn’t have to wait long for their second as Baker-Richardson met Anthony Glennon’s delivery from another corner after Harrogate’s defence struggled to clear their lines, putting Newport two goals to the good.
It took Harrogate 19 minutes to create any real chance.
Josh March came close for the away side after firing wide an effort just inside the penalty area.
Seconds later David Ajiboye found himself through on goal with an opportunity to put Newport 3-0 up only for Harrogate keeper James Belshaw to save well.
Harrogate never really got going in the first half but were given a really good opportunity when Ellis Taylor found space on the edge of the box, forcing County ‘keeper Nick Townsend to make a fantastic save from his curling effort.
Newport preserved their 2-0 lead into half-time but Harrogate came out brighter at the start of the second half.
When Evans gave a sloppy foul away on the edge of his own box, former County player Bryn Morris hit the crossbar from the resulting free-kick.
McLoughlin then missed two golden opportunities for County, heading over from five yards out then hitting the near post after a deflected effort inside the penalty area.
It didn’t matter, though.
County skipper James Clarke put the game to bed in the 60th minute when he was the quickest to react to a spectacular bicycle-kick effort from Ajiboye which was saved by Belshaw.
Harrogate’s centre-forward Josh March blazed an effort over from 25 yards out, but there was no consolation for the visitors.
The win sees Newport up to 16th in the league, with a trip to Grimsby next week.