Newport made the long journey to Pewsey Vale on Saturday and returned with all three points but were made to work hard by a competitive home side.
Following the cup exploits in midweek, Gary Streeter returned in goal, Jacob Reynolds and George Holmes retained their places, whilst Ollie Macarthur who has featured for the reserve team this season was named as a substitute.
A lively opening as Pewsey showed they would be no pushover and Newport were forced into defensive action early on. The Port soon began to get control however and opened the scoring on 10 minutes when a quick break out down the left-hand side was centred for Liam Triggs to score.
The goal didn’t affect Pewsey’s determination and they continued to get the ball forward but struggled with the end product as chances went wide or high. The home side were making things difficult for the Port as too many high balls forward were won by a Pewsey central defender. Gary Streeter was called into action to block a home striker through on goal.
Again, Newport weathered the storm and began to get more chances themselves. Jordan Browne got away from the last man and into a shooting position, the keeper blocked the shot which then hit a defender and ran across the face of the goal where George Holmes finished off the move at the back post.
Pewsey got going again and a good move down the left-hand side was centred and an incoming striker slid in and scored at the near post.
From the restart, Newport broke with the ball and fed it to Connor Kelly who raced away from the home defence and slotted it past the home keeper to restore the two-goal advantage.
HT: Pewsey Vale 1 Newport 3
The second half continued in very much the same way, Pewsey chasing the game and Newport coming forward on the break. A number of chances were wasted by the home side who could not find the right time to shoot. They either tried to get to close to the goal and were shut down or they shot from long distance and went high or wide. Frustratingly they could not find a shot on target at the right time.
Newport brought on Jake Wright for a tiring George Holmes who is working his way back to full fitness.
Pewsey had a shout for a penalty in the 75th minute but the ball seemed to hit Scott Barron in the stomach rather than arm and the referee waived it away. Newport brought on Ollie MacArthur for his first team debut to replace Jacob Reynolds in midfield.
Ryan Hughes was starting to get some joys with runs down the right-hand side and after interplay with Connor Kelly he swung in a pinpoint cross to Jordan Brown whose goal bound header was saved acrobatically by the home keeper.
As the game drew to a close, Newport returned to their quick passing game and a great move down the left-hand side saw the ball squared to Liam Triggs who made no mistake from 18 yards to finish off the match.
A score line that didn’t really reflect the closeness of the match, the difference was in the final third of the pitch.
FT: Pewsey Vale 1 Newport 4
Newport: Streeter, Hughes, Lamb, Barron, Pearce, Reynolds (Macarthur), L Wright, Triggs, Kelly, Browne, Holmes (J Wright).
Referee: Mr B Dufill
Att:55
A neutral view from Groundhopper West Country Football https://wcf.home.blog/2019/09/07/do-pewsey-what-i-see/#more-341
Newport Reserves travelled to AFC Wootton and came away 4-2 winners. The goalscorers were Jayden Yates 2, Zak Sullivan and Harry Cheek.