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MATCH ABANDONED - 56 MINUTES
Torrential rain brought an
abrupt end to what had been a six goal thriller for the supporters braving
the elements at York Road.
Although the pitch held up
well in the first half, the precipitation grew over half time and the
second half became something of a farce leaving referee Russell Coggins with little option but to abandon the game
after 56 minutes. Ironically Coggins was the man in the middle when
Maidenhead’s game was abandoned with three minutes left at Dorchester last March.
The action saw Maidenhead
almost always in front in terms of goals scored but second best with the
regard to the balance of play.
This was reflected in the
opening incident of the game when from a corner a Rob Duffy effort was
cleared off the line by Narada Bernard. A long ball forward found Dale Binns on the left wing and he sprinted clear of the
defence to score with a powerful shot which crept inside the near post of
debutant keeper Erwin Bak.
Despite this early blow Newport were on top
for much of the first, and following a good save from Shane Gore to parry a
Dave Collins free kick in the eleventh minute, the equaliser was not long
in coming, Craig Hughes finishing well with a shot from just inside the
penalty area to score in the 14th minute.
With half time looming
Maidenhead recaptured their lead with another move down the left which saw
the ball moved inside to Ashley Nicholls who let fly from the edge of the
box to score. The half time lead was
preserved when Gore again saved well from a free kick
After the break with
puddles now all over the surface, an element of comedy crept in with the
conditions forcing errors. This lead
to three goals in five minutes.
Firstly Gore misjudged a clearance allowing Danny Rose to tap into
an empty net, then an Ashley Vickers back pass got stuck giving Richard Pacquette the perfect chance to score (pictured
above). Newport equalised for the third time when
Paul Hall crept in at the far post to score from a corner.
Magpies: Gore, Smith T (54 Bradshaw), Bernard (48 Fyfield), Hinds, Sterling,
Cooper, Smith A, Nicholls, Pacquette, Tyriaki, Binns. Unused subs: James, Nisbet,
Behzadi.
Goals: Binns
2, Nicholls 43, Pacquette 51.
Cautions: Cooper 21, Pacquette 37.
Crowd: 480.
Exiles: Bak, Jenkins,
Collins, Davies, Vickers, Stephens, Rose, Church A, Duffy, Hughes, Hall.
Unused subs Walsh, Cooper,
Harris, Colborne, Church N.
Goals: Hughes 14, Rose 50, Hall 55.
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