A revitalised East Cowes Vics side gave a good account of themselves in their Boxing Day defeat against 1 of the strongest sides in Wessex Division 1: near neighbours Newport.
New manager Alex Smith had been hard at work behind the scenes, and the signings he made were on show today: Callum Chase, Macaulay Watterson, Ben Holdsworth, Brad Young and Fraser Law all starting and Tom Ashley, Harrison Taylor, and Billy Backshall on the bench. The Port included new signing Jordan Chapman (from Vics) as a substitiute.
Vics started the brighter of the 2 sides, and their 1st effort came in the 9th minute from Ben Holdsworth, whose shot was gathered by Leon Pitman in the Newport goal.
The Port’s 1st effort was a pinpoint cross from a free kick by Josh Younie, which was met by Jordan Browne, who was unable to hit the target.
Vics had the ball in the net in the 26th minute from a cross into the penalty area from Kade Woodford, which found Toby Snow, who stroked the ball home. However, the the goal was disallowed for offside. 4 minutes later, a tricky run into the box from Toby Snow saw the young Vics striker bundled over without a penalty being awarded.
The Port opened the scoring in the 36th minute when a long ball sailed over the Vics back four, and Joe Craig took the ball from close to the halfway line before coolly rounding the keeper to slot home (0-1).
Vics were unlucky not to equalise on the stroke of half time when a rasping effort from Kade Woodford was finger tipped onto the upright by Pitman in the Newport goal.
Half time: East Cowes Vics 0-1 Newport IoW
The 2nd half started with Newport taking the game to Vics. In the 51st minute, the County Town club increased their lead when a Connor Kelly corner was headed back across goal and Joe Craig bagged his brace by tapping home from 2 yards (0-2).
The away side looked fitter and sharper throughout the 2nd half, but Vics never capitulated and battled hard for their new manager. Efforts from Jordan Browne, Joe Craig and Joe Hancott were unable to beat the young Vics keeper Fraser Law. Vics created little in the 2nd half but worked tirelessly to shut down space and stop the Port from further increasing their lead.
Full time: East Cowes Vics 0-2 Newport IoW
East Cowes Vics: Law, Young, Greenslade, West, Chase, Watterson, Snow, Lyon, Marsek, Holdsworth, Woodford Subs: White, Yates, Ashley, Taylor, Backshall
Newport IoW: Pitman, Colson, Triggs, Hancott, Oatley, Barron, Kelly, Reynolds, Browne, Craig, Younie Subs: Boyd-Kerr, Nash, Burford, McDonough, Chapman
After the game, Vics manager Alex Smith said:
“I can never be happy with losing but my side have shown a definite improvement. We hit the post and had a goal disallowed, and Newport scored a breakaway and a 2nd scrappy goal. We battled all through the game and came back in the last 10 minutes.”
For Newport, manager Steve Brougham said:
“It doesn’t matter whether we win 2-0 or 6-0, it’s still 3 points for us. My lads have gone 3 weeks without a game, and we’ll take the win.”
The Port’s win leaves them in 4th place in Wessex Division 1, 4 points behind leaders New Milton Town but with 4 games in hand.
Vics remain 3rd-from-bottom without a win since the start of August.
Report compiled with kind assistance of Russ Chapman.
Video: Robert Lunn
