Opening day defeat for County
Newport County fell to an opening day defeat, as Wycombe Wanderers resilient defence came through unscathed in a 2-0 victory.
Goals from debutant Peter Murphy and Paris Cowan-Hall were enough to see off a battling Newport County.
Confidence was high at Rodney Parade, following a succession of impressive pre-season results. However, it was Wycombe who started brightly, Paris Cowan-Hall heading towards goal from a Max Kretzschmar corner, only to see Lenny Pidgeley parrying wide, a wonderful save from The Exiles stopper.
From then on, Newport County were dominant in possession. Making progress down the left and right side. The first attempt from Newport coming in the 5th minute, a long range effort from midfielder Mark Byrne, however, Wycombe stopper Matthew Ingram was comfortable in making the save.
Newport continued to build pressure throughout the half, midfielders Byrne and Lee Minshull pulling the strings from the centre of midfield. Newport also continued to attack with width, resulting in Mike Flynn heading inches over the bar, the cross made by right back Robbie Willmott.
However, the pressure didn’t pay off. Wycombe earned themselves a corner in the 38th minute. The ball was delivered from the right, towards the near post with pace. It was met by the head of debutant Peter Murphy, who headed past Pidgeley.
Newport looked to reply positively, however, Wycombe continued to disappoint the home support. Hitting Newport with a quick fire second, as left sided attacker, Sam Wood broke into the Exiles box, squaring the ball across to Cowan-Hall, who caressed the ball into an empty net.
Again, Newport continued to look for a reply, only to see a Byrne volley struck inches over the bar, following good build-up play down the right hand side by Willmott.
In the 60th minute, County started to move the ball well around the park in complete control. Three minutes later, Byrne struck a sweet strike at goal, only to see it met by a dominant Ingram.
County continued to search for a goal, and should have sent the home crowd cheering in the 69th minute. Again, Newport seeing positive results from the hard work of Willmott. His cross was met by the head of Rene Howe. His flick flew into the path of Minshull whose headed effort went wide.
County were constantly reminded of the dangers they were to face while pushing forward, as Cowan-Hall consistently looked to break into the Newport half with pace, only to be met with a crunching tackle from Captain Andy Sandell, the challenge warranting a yellow card for the skipper.
With ten minutes left, County were awarded a free kick, inches outside the penalty box. Skipper Sandell was impeded as he looked to break into the area. Willmott had a second opportunity to hit the target from a free kick, only to see his effort fly high and wide above the goal.
The final quarter of the game saw Newport continue to press, but to no avail. County were pumping the ball high into the Wycombe area, only to see the resilient Chairboys defence prevail.
Late in the game saw numerous efforts on goal from County. Efforts from Byrne, Adam Chapman and debutant Yan Klukowski firing into the brick wall, that was the Wycombe Wanderers defence. Not even the added six minutes onto regulation time, could assist in the downfall of the Wycombe defence. The result ending, Newport County 0-2 Wycombe Wanderers.