Referee Nathan Cook angered Newport IW FC management, players and fans by abandoning Saturday’s match at Beatrice Avenue at half time, with the Island side leading 1-0 after a Spike Pearce header in the 35th minute.
Despite the game having been played in a torrential downpour, the pitch appeared perfectly playable to most observers. Beatrice Avenue has the reputation of being a ground which drains very swiftly.
Ironically, around 10 minutes after the untimely abandonment, the rain eased off to light drizzle. A photograph of the pitch taken at around 16:00 on Saturday afternoon appears to show the condition of the pitch to have been perfectly playable.
The reaction of Newport manager Andy Sampson to the abandonment of the game is not printable.
Newport IW FC Streeter, Hughes, Triggs, Barron, McDonough, Pearce, Kelly, Wright, Cousins, Browne, Yates
On Tuesday night, Newport provided one of their best performances of the season so far, winning 6-2 away at Totton & Eling.
The Southampton side had picked up in form recently, particularly at home, but Newport were swift in getting the match under control with Connor Kelly finding the net in the 4th minute, with
Mark Taylor being the provider.
A quarter of an hour later, Kelly was to turn provider, with an inch perfect cross finding Jordan Browne at the back post to head home to give Port a 0-2 advantage.
Shortly after the restart, Port were to concede a sloppy goal. Awarded a free kick just outside their own penalty area, a mix up between the Newport defenders and keeper allowed Daniel Spencer in to score a simple goal for the home side. This could have been a turning point that allowed Totton back into the game, but Connor Kelly was having none of it. On the half-hour mark, the ball was fed through to the in-form winger, and he raced through the defence, rounded the keeper and steered the ball into an empty net. Port now had a 3-1 lead.
10 minutes later and the score was 4-1. Mark Taylor shot from a distance, the home keeper spilled the ball, and Jordan Browne was first to strike the ball home.
It took Port less than 10 minutes to score their first second half goal, when a perfect Connor Kelly cross was met by Jordan Browne, to fire home for his hat trick in the 54th minute. On the hour mark, Jared Cousins had to come off and was replaced by reserve team striker Jayden Yates.
In the 69th minute, Connor Kelly was to complete his own hat trick. Latching on to a long clearance from Gary Streeter, he nipped in before the home defence and lobbed it over the advancing keeper.
Totton & Eling were awarded a late penalty after a mistimed a tackle on Totton striker, John Macaulay, who then stepped up to convert the penalty himself.
The impressive win took Port to 8th position in the Wessex League One table.
Totton & Eling 2-6 Newport
Newport: Streeter, Hughes, Triggs, Barron, McDonough, Sampson, Kelly, J Wright (H Yates), Cousins (J Yates), Browne, Taylor.
sounds to me like the ref is a snowflake that didn’t want to get wet any longer – pah!