This weekend, Newport County host Tranmere Rovers in the penultimate home game of the 2023/24 season at Rodney Parade.
To help whet the appetite ahead of the game, we have returned to the start of last season, when we welcomed Rovers to South Wales after a tough opening four games.
Newport County v Tranmere Rovers highlights
After being in and around the top seven for much of the second half of the 21/22 season, the wheels had come off on the home straight, with County only registering two victories in their final nine, leaving us in a very respectable, but slightly disappointing, 11th place.
Unfortunately, that poor form appeared to have stuck around as we began the 22/23 campaign in a similar vein.
After a hard-fought draw away at Sutton, we would go on to lose our next three league games, including back-to-back losses at Rodney Parade to Walsall and then Salford. While it was a little too early to be panicking, we entered our fifth game of the season, a home clash with Tranmere, in 23rd place.
Things nearly got off to a bad start. A long ball from Tranmere stopper Ross Doohan caught the County defence napping, allowing Kane Hemmings to be run through. Fortunately, Nick Townsend was, as always, alert and met the striker inside the box, putting the ball out for a corner.
Tranmere would keep up the early pressure, and this would eventually pay off in the 22nd minute. Some nice work from Josh Dacres-Cogley saw the player find Paul Lewis in the area. The midfielder then fired the ball across the face of the goal, beating Nick Townsend and ricocheting in off an unfortunate Adam Lewis.
This lit a fire under the County, and we would respond six minutes later. A mazy run from Thierry Nevers finished the striker breaking into the area and causing mayhem with a shot across the face of the goal. With the Tranmere keeper down, the ball fell to Nathan Moriah-Welsh, who was more than happy to slot home and pull us level.
Just before half-time, we would be handed the chance to take the lead. Some lovely link-up play between Omar Bogle and James Clarke saw Bogle brought down in the area by none other than future Exile, Kyle Jameson. Bogle would return to his feet, dust himself off, and slot the ball past Doohan to make it 2-1.
Chances were at a premium throughout the second half, with the best opportunity falling to James Waite. A fantastic bit of play culminated in Bogle setting the midfielder up in the box, but he was unable to keep the resulting effort down.
