Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
Posts: 4814
Location: In the Armchair.
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THE CAZBAR BIG GAME PREVIEW – NEWPORT COUNTYAs you know a prior engagement prevented me from going on Tuesday night and it seems I missed a bit of controversy. Although I think fans of both sides would have been content with a point before kicking off, it’s us that feel hard done by as we were denied a match winning goal.
Whilst it’s not really clear on video, it appears the momentum of the keeper’s dive carried it over the line, and judging by one or two photos circulating on social media the ball is visible in the side netting. Now most people have vented at Ref Purkiss, but the main fault here is with the lino on the Club Red side, Daniel D’Urso, son of former Premiership referee Andy D’Urso, who himself is no stranger to controversy... that is an appalling miss….but come on we are not shocked….all season we have been let down with poor officiating, and no email apology from the EFL is going to put it right, all we can hope for is that it doesn’t damage our season.
And of course, it will not reprieve Lewie who broke the 100m World Record chasing the ref, yes he shouldn’t have done it, but can you remember how mad you felt at the time.
On Saturday we continue the Welsh theme by facing the LG 2 form team Newport County who although are in 15th, they are only 2 points outside the playoffs where 3 points separate 10 teams.
Below are the current placings and record of both teams plus our home record and the away record of County.
Dons (5th) – P 33, W 16, D 7, L 10, GF 52, GA 44, Pts 55.
Newport (15th) – P 32, W13, D 7, L 12, GF 47, GA 49, Pts 46.
Dons (H) (3rd) – P 17, W 10, D 4, L 3, GF 29, GA 17, Pts 34.
Newport (A) (17th) – P 15, W 5, D 1, L 9, GF 17, GA 26, Pts 16.
Looking at that away form for County in a bit more detail, below are all those results with the most recent game shown first.
Walsall 0 Newport 3
Doncaster 0 Newport 1
Sutton 1 Newport 1
Wrexham 2 Newport 0
Tranmere 2 Newport 1
Morecambe 1 Newport 2
Mansfield 2 Newport 0
Gillingham 0 Newport 2
Notts Co 3 Newport 0
Swindon 2 Newport 0
Salford 2 Newport 0
Crawley 4 Newport 1
Forest Green 0 Newport 3
Crewe 4 Newport 2
Accrington 3 Newport 0
As ever we will try and make sense of those results in this most unpredictable season where it appears anyone can beat anyone on any day. I have to say nothing really jumps out at me, but you have to respect the fact they will come to SMK looking for their 6th victory in 7 games. I think it’s also fair to say they reserve their best form for Rodney Parade where they beat Wrexham 1-0 last month, but Wrexham did have a man sent off after 18 minutes, and I should also mention that they beat Stockport 2-1 back in November despite only having 34% of the ball and 2 shots on target that both found the back of the net.
Top scorer for the Exiles is right sided striker Will Evans who joined Newport in 2022 from Bala Town and has scored an astonishing 23 goals in 41 games this season,19 of which have been in the league. He hit the crossbar back in that 0-0 draw in November, so let’s hope he doesn’t get any closer, and so far Newport have resisted advances despite interest from several clubs, but you have to think if he carries on at this rate, the interest will start again in the summer.
On the right side of midfield, we have American born Shane McLoughlin who is a former AFC player and moving to Newport has really boosted his game with 8 assists so far this season.
Graham Coughlan is the gaffer at Rodney Parade and is a former centre half covering a 19 year career that has seen him play for 10 clubs including Burnley, Sheff Wed, Blackburn, and Rotherham with a record of 511 games scoring 42 goals.
This is his 4th appointment, and it was met with an amount of scepticism from the Exiles faithful when he was appointed in October 2022, but the locals appear to have warmed to him with the recent improvement in form.
His record to date is P 162, W 59, D 50, L 53, with a Win Ratio of 36%.
Historically we have a very good record against Newport the details of which are below with Dons scorers.
2016/17 – Newport 2 Dons 3 (LC) – (Bowditch 2, Tilney)
2018/19 – Newport 0 Dons 1 (Aneke)
2018/19 – Dons 2 Newport 0 (Cisse, Aneke)
2019/20 – Newport 3 Dons 0 (FLT)
2022/23 – Dons 3 Newport 1 (FLT) – (Burns, Dennis, Grigg)
2023/24 – Newport 0 Dons 0
That’s a record of P 6, W 4, D 1, L 1, GF 9, GA 6.
The bookies have us as hot favourites, no value on us, but if you fancy the draw or better for Newport you will be well rewarded.
MK Dons 8/11, Draw 3/1, Newport County 4/1
Once again I’m not going to make a prediction but there are a number of factors that might sway the destination of the points. Newport like us have a bit of an injury crisis with their latest bit of bad news coming this week with their skipper Ryan Delaney suffering a season ending injury. We of course will be without Lewie but worryingly Cam Norman limped off after being down for a good 2 minutes, we could be down to the barest of bones at the back, and I was thinking it might be an idea to recall Charlie Waller, but news broke on Thursday he has a season ending injury, so thats off the table.
Again, I can see us having the bulk of the possession with County having to be content to hit us on the break, so keeping Evans and McLoughlin quiet will be the key to the game.
See you Saturday.
 WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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