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Match Previews

PREVIEW | Exiles travel north to take on Harrogate Town

29 January 2021

Match Previews

PREVIEW | Exiles travel north to take on Harrogate Town

29 January 2021

Newport County AFC will be in search of their first win of 2021 when they face Harrogate Town at the EnviroVent Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

County will be looking to get that winning feeling back on Saturday against their newly-promoted opponents.

Here, you can find all the facts and statistics ahead of this Sky Bet League Two fixture...

The opposition - Harrogate Town

Harrogate Town are currently in their first season as a Football League club, having been promoted from the National League last year through the play-offs.

Town, who currently sit in 20th place on 27 points, have earned seven wins, six draws and fallen to 11 defeats this term. Harrogate made a great start to life in League Two, with four wins and three draws from their opening 10 fixtures, including an opening day 4-0 thrashing of Southend.

Lately, however, Town have struggled to maintain this form with just three victories since the end of October. They have shown enough this season to cause County plenty of problems on Saturday and will pose a difficult test for the Exiles.

Team news

County have further bolstered their attacking options with the addition of striker Dom Telford to the squad this week. He joins Jack Evans, Anthony Hartigan, Luke Gambin, Owen Windsor and Jake Scrimshaw as January arrivals.

The Exiles will be missing midfielders Joss Labadie and Josh Sheehan through suspension.

For the visitors, Mitchell Roberts, Mark Beck and Joe Cracknell will miss the game through injury, whilst Connor Hall serves the first match of his suspension. Defensive duo Dan Jones and Will Smith have both recovered from injury this week to be in contention.

One to watch – Jack Muldoon

Forward Jack Muldoon has been Town’s talisman this season, scoring 11 goals so far. All of his goals have come in the league, leaving him well in contention for the top scorer accolade.

The 31-year-old started the season on fire, with six goals in the opening five league matches. He has also struck in two of Harrogate’s last four games against Cambridge and Salford.

The Englishman has been with Harrogate since 2018, playing 100 times since joining and, in that time, he has proven to be prolific, finding the net 38 times.

Manager – Simon Weaver

Simon Weaver is one of English football’s longest-serving managers after being at Harrogate Town since 2009. The Englishman spent the first three years of this spell as player-manager.

During his time in charge, Weaver has taken Town from the National League North to League Two for the first time in their history. The 42-year-old also guided Town to the second round of the FA Cup in 2012/13.

In his playing days, Weaver was a centre-back who played for the likes of Doncaster Rovers, Kidderminster and Scarborough.

Last meeting between the sides

The sides last met in October last year at Rodney Parade, where the Exiles took all three points courtesy of a late winner.

Padraig Amond opened the scoring in south Wales before Josh Falkingham was shown a red card for the visitors. The 10 men levelled the scores before half-time when Will Smith prodded home a corner.

Their resistance was finally broken with 88 minutes on the clock, as Brandon Cooper netted home a late winner to take County five points clear at the top of the table at the time.


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