By Chris
Notts County travel to Newport County on Saturday on the back of a victory against Carlisle United which provided much relief to the club's contingent and fans, keeping the Magpies in the playoff places.
The Exiles are much improved this term compared to previous seasons but go into this game having lost their last three in League Two.
Pride of Nottingham takes a closer look at Newport's form, key players and tactics in this weekend's Scouting Report.
Head to head
Notts have met Newport 49 times in competitive action: 26 games have been won by the Magpies, 14 by the Exiles, and there have been 9 draws.
Newport won this fixture 2-1 at the tail end of last season, which saw the Exiles survive in the Football League by the skin of their teeth and prompted a pitch invasion at Rodney Parade.
They haven't beaten Notts in consecutive home matches in the Football League since March 1971.
The Magpies have only failed to score once in their last 14 meetings with the Exiles in all competitions, netting 30 goals in those matches.
Run-down of their last six features
Saturday 13th January – Grimsby Town 1 Newport County 2
Friday 19th January – Newport County 2 Crawley Town 1
Tuesday 23rd January – Newport County 1 Morecambe 1
Tuesday 30th January – Lincoln City 3 Newport County 1
Saturday 3rd February – Colchester United 2 Newport County 0
Tuesday 13th February – Mansfield Town 5 Newport County 0
The Players – Fact Sheet
Highest Goalscorers: Padraig Amond 11, Shawn McCoulsky 11, Frank Nouble 8 and Joss Labadie 6.
Persistent Foulers: Joss Labadie 10 yellow cards and 1 red card, Frank Nouble 9 yellow cards, Ben White 7 yellow cards and Matthew Dolan 6 yellow cards.
The Key Players
Former Notts midfielder Joss Labadie has been influential in Newport County’s midfield, providing assists and attacking support, and also goals to his own tally.
On his day he can be a force to be reckoned with and he’s one of those players in League Two who can be considered a game changer.
In attack, they have three very attacking minded players in Frank Nouble, Padraig Amond and Shawn McCoulsky – the latter being a player who causes many headaches for his counterparts' defence.
Ben White is also a tricky player who likes to get forward and frequently challenges his rivals with a mix basic skill and hard work.
Style of Play, Strengths, and Weaknesses
The Exiles are one of those teams you can’t just predict how they will play, but looking at their form and goals conceded you would have to fancy our chances on the day, provided Kevin Nolan’s men put in a true performance of their ability.
At the back they’re very dodgy, a mix of poor zonal marking and a lack of applications means they are often punished by school boy errors at the back.
On the ball, they are comfortable in possession and can make good use of it.
However, they do tend to be wasteful and a lack of confidence is a major knock towards how they play or even express themselves on a pitch.
If their opposition scores early or dominates the game, they generally struggle – yet hard work can often see them claw themselves back into games.
It does look like their poor form is mostly down to the sheer amount of goals conceded, so it would appear likely that Notts could cause further problems by ensuring they break carefully and take any chances that present themselves on goal.
As I say, defensively Newport do not look like a very good team and if we can bypass their physical side we should do well.
The key would be to keep the ball moving promptly, whilst making good movement in and around their back four.
Any chances from free-kicks must be used wisely and, I can see an effort easily going in if a chance presents itself – the Exiles keeper seems prone to missing saves from the top right corner.
Notts must be strong in possession and, ensure that they play with strength in numbers but must avoid losing concentration at the back.
Provided our defence and keeper do their jobs, it should be fairly straight forward but much of this will come down to how Kevin Nolan’s men play.
There should be too many changes, and certainly 4-4-2 would give Notts some comfort, yet I would avoid isolating the front by using one striker – as they will play into the hands of Newport’s style of play which is common for League Two.
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