Port were almost at full strength for the visit of Cribbs, with only the unfortunate George Holmes absent through injury. Three changes were made to the side which had beaten Totton & Eling the previous Saturday: veteran Gary Streeter replacing Ryan Hall in goal, Lewis Wright taking the place of Darren Powell in midfield, and Liam Triggs returning in place of Harrison Yates. Andy Sampson kept faith with his young players for this FA Vase match, with sixteen-year-old Ryan Hughes playing his second game at right back, and experienced Scott Sampson and Mark Taylor left on the substitutes bench.
Port began the game, on a chilly but bright November afternoon, kicking off towards the Shide End. Their Western League level 5 opponents had the home side in difficulty as early as the first minute, when Jack McKenna hoofed the ball over the bar from close range after Gary Streeter had difficulty controlling a cross. The away side kept up the pressure: Streeter being forced to punch the ball away in the 3rd minute, shooting narrowly past the post in the fifth, and Streeter again being called into action to save a close range shot in the fifteenth.
In the twentieth minute, key Newport player, Martin McDonough, was forced to leave the pitch for treatment to a bad nose bleed. Meanwhile, Cribbs continued to put Port under pressure: Jason Vincent shooting narrowly wide in the twenty-fifth, and Sol Wanaju-Smith missing an open goal from ten yards in the thirty-fifth. Port had their first clear chance to score in the thirty-eighth minute, when the Cribbs keeper fisted a Lewis Wright free kick over the crossbar. This was followed by a big appeal for handball in the Cribbs penalty area, which was not given. Port ended the half, bloodied but unbowed, having soaked up considerable pressure from a team one level above in the pyramid without conceding a goal.
HT Newport 0–0 Cribbs
The second-half began much the same as the first, with Spike Pearce being forced to clear the ball off the line in the forty-eighth minute. Port then mounted a rare attack, with good control and shot by Louie Fleming. Andy Sampson then threw on his substitutes: Scott Sampson and Mark Taylor replacing Martin McDonough and Liam Triggs (both of whom had received knocks in the first half). Unfortunately, the change of personnel did little to alter the course of the game.
In the sixty-fourth minute, a shot-come-cross eluded Gary Streeter to end up in the top netting. Then, in the sixty-eighth minute, Cribbs finally converted a chance into a goal, when Dan SPICER pounced after Streeter was unable to control a cross.
Cribbs put the game beyond Port’s reach in the eighty-first minute, when Jason VINCENT scored with a low shot from inside the penalty area.
Final score: Newport 0–2 Cribbs
Newport: Streeter, Hughes, Lamb, Pearce, McDonough (Sampson), Barron, Wright (Snow), Triggs (Taylor), Wetherick, Craig, Fleming Sub not used: Powell
Referee: Michael Ryan
Newport Man of the Match: Neo Lamb
Attendance: 155