Promotion-chasing Port face Isle of Wight champions Shanklin at Westwood Park in the Isle of Wight Senior (Gold) Cup semi-final at Westwood Park this evening (Tuesday).
Gold Cup holders Newport last faced Shanklin in the quarter-final stage of the Gold Cup in 2019 when the County Town Club beat the Blues at St George’s Park through a 93rd-minute goal by Jordan Browne.
Last season, Shanklin were knocked out of the Gold Cup by East Cowes Vics (also at the quarter-final stage) at Beatrice Avenue, after taking an early lead through a George Carter-Knight strike, before eventually going down 3-1.
Shanklin manager Paul Haward says:
“We are looking forward to the game. We go into the game as underdogs, so it’s a bit of a free hit for us.
“They are a very good side, but on our day so are we. It should be a great game.”
Several players are joint-signed for Newport and Shanklin. Aaron Burford will be turning out for Shanklin as he had previously played for the Island League side in an earlier round. Ji Nash – who has appeared for Shanklin this season – will be in the Newport squad.
Kick-off at Westwood Park is at 19:30.
In Wessex Division 1, East Cowes Vics travel to North Hampshire to face 8th-placed Andover Town.
Vics now have only a theoretical chance of relegation, needing a single point from their remaining 5 games to avoid the drop.
It has been quite a turnaround for Vics, who were 2nd-from-bottom with only 1 win when manager Alex Smith took over shortly before Christmas.
Since then, Vics have won 7, drawn 4 and lost 5 games with Alex at the helm – gaining an impressive 25 points from 16 games.
When asked how he has transformed Vics’ form, Alex said:
“As a group, people come 1st and football comes 2nd. We’ve worked hard on the way we communicate, the relationships and all the small details which make a big difference.
“The group has a great capacity to learn and improve, and it’s my responsibility to continue to draw it out of them and ensure the group remains galvanised.
“Our togetherness is our biggest strength, with competition for places and transparency running throughout the squad.”
Island Echo also asked Alex how the side would perform now that the threat of relegation has receded.
Alex responded:
“Now is when we’ll really find out what we’re about. With the pressure we put on ourselves somewhat relieved, we have to push on and see what targets we can set for next season.
“There are places in the league table to play for, and we all want to finish as high as we possibly can.”
East Cowes Vics’ remaining fixtures:
Andover Town (A), Newport IoW (A), Andover New Street (A), Hamworthy Recreation (A), Verwood Town (H)
Kick-off at the Portway Stadium is also at 19:30.
