by Jack Cook
EFL League Two: Newport County v Forest Green Rovers
Date: Saturday February 21, 2021
Kick Off: 13:00
Venue: Rodney Parade, Newport
NEWPORT County suffers yet another loss in their promotion race against fellow promotion chasing Forest Green 2-0 at Rodney Parade.
Goals from Josh Davison and former Newport player Jamile Matt was enough to defeat the struggling Exiles as they still yet to return to their post Christmas form.
The first chance of the game fell to Newport after a brilliant ball from the returning Liam Shepard put in a cross which was met by Dom Telford, but the header sailed just over the bar. This was a similar play from Tuesday night’s game against Exeter which Telford scored on that occasion.
Tensions were running high in the first half with both teams fighting for promotion. This showed on the pitch with several unneeded challenges being made with a lot of anger being shown from the players to the referee.
Forest Green took the lead through Josh Davison after the winger was given space by the Newport defence and he carried to ball into the box before sliding his effort past Newport goalkeeper Nick Townsend just before the half time whistle.
Newport started the second half the better team, but Forest Green was awarded a penalty after a poor pass back to Newport’s keeper Nick Townsend was intercepted by Forest Green forward Jamile Matt who got to the ball before Townsend which led to the keeper making contact with Matt and not the ball. The referee had no chance but to give the penalty which the former Newport man Jamile Matt scored from the penalty to extend Forest Green lead to two.
Newport had free kicks in good areas of the pitch with captain Joss Labadie being the main target on both occasions, but the captain couldn’t get his headers on target.
The Exiles pushed on late in the second half for a goal, but Newport couldn’t create anything as the game finishes 2-0. As a result of this defeat, Newport remains in the playoffs and the win for Forest Green puts them one point away from the top.
Star player:
Jamile Matt (Forest Green)
Key incidents:
34’ Yellow card for Anthony Hartigan (Newport)
34’ Yellow card for Dominic Bernard (Forest Green)
43’ Goal for Josh Davison (Forest Green)
51’ Yellow card for Ebou Adams (Forest Green)
61’ Yellow card for Nick Townsend (Newport)
63’ Goal for Jamile Matt (Forest Green)
66’ Yellow card for Udoka Godwin-Malife (Forest Green)
Newport – Nick Townsend, Ryan Haynes, Mickey Demetriou, Priestley Farquharson, Liam Shephard, Anthony Hartigan (Aaron Lewis,73) Joss Labadie (c), Josh Sheehan, Jack Scrimshaw (Padraig Amond,58) Dom Telford (Kevin Ellison,58) Nicky Maynard (Ryan Taylor, 58)
Substitutes – Tom King, Matty Dolan, Aaron Lewis, Luke Gambin, Kevin Ellison, Ryan Taylor, Padraig Amond
Forest Green – Lewis Thomas, Dominic Bernard, Chris Stokes (c), Baily Cargill, Ebou Adams, Nicky Cadden, Jamile Matt (Jake Young, 88) Jordan Moore-Taylor, Elliott Whitehouse, Udoka Godwin-Malife, Josh Davison (Jayden Richardson, 76)
Substitutes – Luke McGee, Isaac Hutchinson, Aaron Collins, Odin Bailey, Jake Young, Scott Wagstaff, Jayden Richardson
