Game 39 - The Exiles (A)

Team: Newport County

Date: 29/03/2025

Where: Rodney Parade

What line-up should Stuart Maynard opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

Notts have eight cup finals to the end of the season & it starts away to Newport County.

Other teams around Notts keep losing. I can't remember a league being as poor as this one has been this season. 

Just when you think a team is going to put a run together they unexpectedly lose.

Bradford & Colchester have been the only teams to have put a decent run together during February & March.

Despite the Notts poor form, they are still in with a shouting chance of getting automatic promotion.

Unfortunately, help from other teams isn't going to last & Notts need to start winning starting on Saturday.

Somehow, I feel more confident with Notts being away  rather than them  being at home. 

Newport County are a difficult team to play at home; their ground just makes it feel more comfortable for them, and it's not an easy place to play 'pretty football'. Newport also fit the mould of being a team that is happy to bully, waste time, frustrate, and just do anything within their power to stop teams playing. They are fully capable of mixing how they play, so I would hope that between Matt Palmer and George Abbott we can control the midfield battle.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we struggled to get shots on target but retained the usual higher amount of possession.

We need to be direct and dangerous, but steady at the back. If Notts can make good movement, maybe it will prove different, but I just feel this is one of those games where Newport will either sit for the draw or shock us on the counter-attack.

I think we are more relaxed away from home. It is a must win game for us given recent home form

it really depends on how we start and how the opposition does themselves, but it is a must win game. i think notts has to be careful and its important to avoid playing like we did against salford. teams you feel notts should do better against often sees us struggle. i can see the game being similar to the morecambe game where its largely uneventful and even at the end of the game.

i would hope its not a draw but i can see it, newport are never a simple team at their ground.

Newport County are in a dangerous position and have everything to play for. They won’t mind earning just a point, even if it’s at home. It would be much more encouraging for them to stop a visiting team like Notts from leaving with all three points. I believe they are quite comfortable being out of control and will likely want their opponent to do all the running. This means they might hope to tire us out, defending with their backs against the wall.

In this situation, Notts just needs to stay persistent and hope that the quality within the team is enough to create more problems for Newport than they cause us with their tight defensive play. This is why I wish Notts were more of a threat from set pieces and in the air. I think Newport will try to limit any space we create on the ground.

They know how to frustrate and stop teams that play attractive football, but handling genuine quality is a different matter. A well-executed free kick, corner routine or even a long-range shot could be the decisive factor.

They are surprisingly a lot better at home than away. They’ve beaten Donny, Salford, Barrow & Crewe at home (better than us!) I can’t see a scenario where we don’t score against this lot though, they’ve conceded the most goals in the league so far, surely they can’t get two clean-sheets against us!

I’m not sure I like the 3-5-2/3-4-2-1 under Stuart at the moment, the wingbacks are expected to do too much and the two attacking mids don’t do enough. But I’m not sure given the injuries how flexible we can be. We did play a 4-2-3-1 formation against Newport last season away and shoved Macca out on the left but it worked… Jarvis would excel in a freer attacking role on the left, Didzy just behind Jatta works, that just leaves the right hand-side of the attacking 3. Could Traore or Morias play wide-right?

 

It's Matchday.

 

The Notts team to face Newport.

 

The match has kicked off.

 

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GOOOOOAAAAAL WHITAKER 

 

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Half time.

 

Back to it. No changes.

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GOOOOOAAAAAL WHITAKER 

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An absolutely crucial win for Notts on the road.

Andy Legg: 'They totally dominated the game. McGoldrick played a key part and Notts thoroughly deserved the three points.'

Latest League table after today's afternoon matches. Notts are seven points clear of eighth place & just two points from third place.

 

The Notts goals today.

 

Great result on the road, just two points off the top three. We're in the mix!