Newport have maintained their 100% away record in Wessex Division 1 by beating Romsey at the Bypass Ground on Saturday (17th September).
The County Town Club had strengthened their squad before the game through the signing of Rafferty Boyd-Kerr from Moneyfields. Rafferty has also played for Cowes Sports in the Wessex Premier.
In further good news for Newport, Aaron Burford and Ryan Oatley were both fit and were selected as substitutes.
The Port began on the front foot with Connor Kelly hitting the crossbar with a long-range shot in the 1st minute. The Island side then took the lead when the Romsey goalkeeper was unable to hold a shot from Joe Butcher (0-1).
Unfortunately, Newport captain Scott Sampson was forced to come off the field of play injured to be replaced by Neo Lamb.
Shortly before half time, the Port doubled their lead courtesy of a trademark free kick from dead ball specialist Josh Younie (0-2).
Half time: Romsey Town 0-2 Newport IoW
2 minutes after the half time break, Younie turned from goal scorer to goal provider when his free kick was directed into the goal via the head of Joe Craig (0-3).
Romsey then pulled a goal back through Jack Odham (1-3).
Around the hour mark, the Port made a series of substitutions with Aaron Burford replacing George Colson, Boyd-Kerr coming on for Joe Craig, and Ryan Oatley taking the place of Joe Hancott.
Joe Butcher further extended Newport’s lead with a rare headed goal (1-4).
Substitute Aaron Burford was then forced to leave the field of play injured to be replaced by Joe McCormack, with goalkeeper Pitman playing up front. The change brought immediate dividends for the County Town Club when Pitman was fouled in the Romsey penalty area. Connor Kelly coolly converted the resulting penalty (1-5).
Romsey scored a late consolation goal after Liam Triggs was penalised for handball in the Port penalty area and Odham buried the resulting spot kick (2-5).
Full time: Romsey Town 2-5 Newport IoW
Newport (IoW): Pitman, Colson (Burford) (McCormack (gk)), Triggs, Hancott ((Oatley), Sampson (c) (Lamb), Pearce, Kelly, Younie, Browne, Craig (Boyd-Kerr), Butcher
The Port’s win leaves them in 9th place in Wessex League 1 with 9 points from 4 games – 7 points behind leaders New Milton Town but with 4 games in hand.
Video courtesy of Robert Lunn
In other Wessex League games …
Brockenhurst 3-0 Cowes Sports
In the Wessex Premier, Cowes Sports have fallen to 2nd-from-bottom after losing 3-0 to New Forest side Brockenhurst. The Yachtsmen appeared aggrieved at some of the refereeing decisions, with captain John McKie sinbinned for disputing a decision and a red and a yellow card reportedly being shown to the Cowes bench.
Cowes will be in action again on Tuesday evening (20th September) when they travel across the Solent to face United Services Portsmouth.
East Cowes Vics 0-2 Whitchurch United
Vics have lost their unbeaten home record at Beatrice Avenue against north Hampshire side Whitchurch after conceding 2 2nd half goals despite playing much of the 2nd half against 10 men. The East Cowes side have now fallen to 17th place in Wessex Division 1 with 6 points from 6 games.
