Newport County 1-1 Wrexham
Rodney Parade
Att: 3,627 with 421 away fans
04/01/13
It's a small world
After returning to England on the Thursday night we made plans to visit our first game of the new year. When we saw this fixture the hotel in Cardiff was booked and we made our way to Wales. After spending the day walking around Cardiff and going on the Millenium Stadium tour we made our way to Cardiff Central to get the train over to Newport. Trains were fairly regular and it took the best part of 10 minutes to get into the Newport. Upon our arrival we tried to make our way to the ground, the problem is that it wasn't as simple as it appears on Google. We ended up walking around Newport before a Policeman pointed us into the right direction.
After booking our tickets on-line we made our way over to the ticket office, thankfully this was on the way to the home entrance, and next to the world's hottest social club. Within it was like every other Rugby Social club in the country, honours boards 'n' all. It was a bit strange to see that the game on the TV's was a repeat of the Barrow v Hereford game in early September. With the heat inside we decided that it was appropriate to sit outside. It was sat on the bench that we bumped into several other groundhoppers whom we know from across Europe who had all descended onto South Wales to see this game. We learnt that they were also stood at the same end as us so made our way in to find a spot on the terraces.
Newport moved into Rodney Parade at the beginning of the season after moving out of the Newport Stadium, their home from 1994-2012. The deal to move to Rodney Parade is on a 3 year lease deal; however there is a clause for them to Leave Rodney Parade at the end of the season should the current ground share not work out. In truth I imagine that County fans would much rather remain at RP for the simple fact that it doesn't have a running track. The ground is home to Newport Gwent Dragons and Newport RFC as well as the football team. Home fans all enter from one end of the ground, as mentioned, with turnstiles at either side of the former cricket pitch. In recent years the ground has undergone some redevelopments to bring it to its current guise. We were stood on the uncovered North terrace which stretches the full length of one end. It was decent enough, but it is set so far back from the pitch. To our left was the Bisley stand. This has a capacity of about 2,500, the blocks in one corner houses the away fans. With this being a rugby ground the facilities underneath, as well as the general layout, was to be expected. A large open space with fairly basic facilities under which you could see the whole way through to the away end, separated by a green fence. To our right was my favourite stand. The Hazell stand consists of seating in the rear and a paddock at the front. For football only half the paddock is open, and none of the seats. All the seats are covered, but due to them only reaching slightly beyond the half way line the majority of the terrace is left uncovered. The final end has an executive box structure, as well as the tunnel.
This game was interesting for ourselves as it meant we could make the comparison between the bottom clubs of the Football League and those that are trying to get into it. At the start of the evening both teams had the chance to go top (I think). Newport started the better of the two teams really getting into Wrexham from the start. Despite this Wrexham would hit the post in the 19th minute from Joe Clark's volley from 20 yards. After O'connor failed to capitalize on a decent 1-1 chance, Newport were then awarded a penalty in the 27th Minute. Up stepped ex-Aldershot player Andy Sandell to try and give the exiles the advantage, but all he could do was fire the ball straight at the visiting keeper. Shortly after Wrexham had a goal disallowed for offside but shortly after they managed to take the lead in the 34th minute, when Danny Wright latched onto a ball over the top. He ran and he ran before sublimely lobbing the home keeper. Half time 1-0.
Newport only had to wait 9 minutes to get their equalizer. On about the 3rd attempt Max Porter's shot looped off a defender into the net. After this they began to push on to try. It would be Wrexham who'd have the best chance to score next. Adrian Cieslewicz's header blasted off the post and straight across the face of goal. Newport could've got a really late winner, also, when Michael Flynn rose highest to a cross, only for the ball to strike the crossbar. Full time and it would be 1-1, with Wrexham going top for the evening.
After saying our goodbye's to everyone we headed back to the station, taking an underpass shaved a lot of time off the walk. We took the time to discuss our opinions on the match. We all agreed that the away turnout was impressive for a Friday night, and with how difficult it is to get from Wrexham to Newport. We also commented that there was a gap in quality from the bottom end of League two, but this may be due to the state of the pitch. A thoroughly enjoyable evening all the same, and kick started a great weekend that would also see Aldershot Town qualify for the fourth round of the FA cup for the first time!
Also with us at this match:
Groundhopping.pl
Doing the 116
Hans on tour
After booking our tickets on-line we made our way over to the ticket office, thankfully this was on the way to the home entrance, and next to the world's hottest social club. Within it was like every other Rugby Social club in the country, honours boards 'n' all. It was a bit strange to see that the game on the TV's was a repeat of the Barrow v Hereford game in early September. With the heat inside we decided that it was appropriate to sit outside. It was sat on the bench that we bumped into several other groundhoppers whom we know from across Europe who had all descended onto South Wales to see this game. We learnt that they were also stood at the same end as us so made our way in to find a spot on the terraces.
Newport moved into Rodney Parade at the beginning of the season after moving out of the Newport Stadium, their home from 1994-2012. The deal to move to Rodney Parade is on a 3 year lease deal; however there is a clause for them to Leave Rodney Parade at the end of the season should the current ground share not work out. In truth I imagine that County fans would much rather remain at RP for the simple fact that it doesn't have a running track. The ground is home to Newport Gwent Dragons and Newport RFC as well as the football team. Home fans all enter from one end of the ground, as mentioned, with turnstiles at either side of the former cricket pitch. In recent years the ground has undergone some redevelopments to bring it to its current guise. We were stood on the uncovered North terrace which stretches the full length of one end. It was decent enough, but it is set so far back from the pitch. To our left was the Bisley stand. This has a capacity of about 2,500, the blocks in one corner houses the away fans. With this being a rugby ground the facilities underneath, as well as the general layout, was to be expected. A large open space with fairly basic facilities under which you could see the whole way through to the away end, separated by a green fence. To our right was my favourite stand. The Hazell stand consists of seating in the rear and a paddock at the front. For football only half the paddock is open, and none of the seats. All the seats are covered, but due to them only reaching slightly beyond the half way line the majority of the terrace is left uncovered. The final end has an executive box structure, as well as the tunnel.
This game was interesting for ourselves as it meant we could make the comparison between the bottom clubs of the Football League and those that are trying to get into it. At the start of the evening both teams had the chance to go top (I think). Newport started the better of the two teams really getting into Wrexham from the start. Despite this Wrexham would hit the post in the 19th minute from Joe Clark's volley from 20 yards. After O'connor failed to capitalize on a decent 1-1 chance, Newport were then awarded a penalty in the 27th Minute. Up stepped ex-Aldershot player Andy Sandell to try and give the exiles the advantage, but all he could do was fire the ball straight at the visiting keeper. Shortly after Wrexham had a goal disallowed for offside but shortly after they managed to take the lead in the 34th minute, when Danny Wright latched onto a ball over the top. He ran and he ran before sublimely lobbing the home keeper. Half time 1-0.
Newport only had to wait 9 minutes to get their equalizer. On about the 3rd attempt Max Porter's shot looped off a defender into the net. After this they began to push on to try. It would be Wrexham who'd have the best chance to score next. Adrian Cieslewicz's header blasted off the post and straight across the face of goal. Newport could've got a really late winner, also, when Michael Flynn rose highest to a cross, only for the ball to strike the crossbar. Full time and it would be 1-1, with Wrexham going top for the evening.
After saying our goodbye's to everyone we headed back to the station, taking an underpass shaved a lot of time off the walk. We took the time to discuss our opinions on the match. We all agreed that the away turnout was impressive for a Friday night, and with how difficult it is to get from Wrexham to Newport. We also commented that there was a gap in quality from the bottom end of League two, but this may be due to the state of the pitch. A thoroughly enjoyable evening all the same, and kick started a great weekend that would also see Aldershot Town qualify for the fourth round of the FA cup for the first time!
Also with us at this match:
Groundhopping.pl
Doing the 116
Hans on tour