AWAY THE GAS
BY DARREN STOBBS
This was a nice short journey to make, after the long distance traveling for the first three away games of the season, though we still had to leave fairly early due to thelunchtime kick-off!
Leaving The Mem at 9:45am with a full Supporters Club coach we took to cross the border for the only fixture this season in Wales.
I often think that these ‘close proximity’ fixtures are more hyped up by the opposition and their fans, as we Gasheads know that the only true derby fixture is against the other team across town. Unfortunately, not having played them for a number of years in the league, younger Gasheads have yet to experience the Bristol derby fixture.
Back to Newport, and we arrived at 10:30am ready to build on the recent good form under Darrell Clarke.
I had been to a local social club called ‘The Excelsior’ on my last visit to Newport, which is less than10 minutes from the ground, so that’s where we headed and found a good number of Gasheads already in attendance.
This place is a throwback in time and feels as though it’s stuck in the 1970’s &1980’s but what you see is what you get, a bit rough as us Bristolians would say!
It’s the type of place where you don’t know who’s going to walk in next, but it’s friendly enough! There was even a staff member trying to repair a fruit machine, which are becoming a rarity nowadays.
It was a nice surprise that hear a rendition of ‘Goodnight Irene’ blare out of the speaker system and Martin immediately said, ‘Are we back in The Manchester pub in Blackpool?’!!
We then made our way back to Rodney Parade and first up was to try a cheeseburger inside the ground. Their ‘meal deals’ were surprisingly quite hefty prices, but the burger was £7 and although not the biggest, was a decent quality.
On to the match and the weather was decent and very warm. With the heavy rain about in the last week or so, this would have been a delight to the Gasheads who had tickets for the uncovered seating area behind the goal. The side stand was, however, under cover.
The first half was a bit of a non event with two poor teams giving a lot of free kicks away and a fair few misplaced passes. The second half was a different story though and we came out with lots of pace and forward play from the first whistle.
We took the lead on 52 minutes when two attempts were made at the Newport goal inside the box before Thomas forced the ball home from six yards.
We were soon 2 -0 up when a poor clearance by the Newport goalkeeper fell to Thomas on the edge of the box for him to finish low into the net.
Rovers were then cruising when new loan signing, Alfie Chang, did brilliantly down the right wing and scooped a cross over for substitute Ellis Harrison to head in from close range. There were then a number of Newport fans making an early exit.
Just as it looked like we would go on to get more goals, we made a number of substitutions as the tactics changed. This allowed Newport a lot more of the ball and they pulled a goal back when they had acres of space on the right of the penalty box and Kai Whitmore chested down to half volley a decent shot past Brad Young.
Miraculously Newport, who were way out of the game until the last 20 minutes, scored a second goal when a low cross on the right produced a simple finish by Nathaniel Opoku from six yards.
We hung on for the victory which we definitely deserved, though should have made it a lot easier. If the game had gone on a lot longer, I may have been telling you a
different story!
Thomas was my man of the match; it was the Thomas we all know is capable of performances such as this. In my opinion when he is on his game, opponents have a big problem on their hands. He arguably should have had a hat trick when he was judged to have hand balled, when an error from the Newport goalie came off his back as he forced the ball over the line. Alfie Kilgour, Promise Omechere and Chang were also very good. Attendance: 5,305 with 1,037 Rovers fans.
We left Newport, after being informed by the coach driver he had three eggs thrown at the coach. I was surprised that the local police were not on duty where the coaches were situated after the game. However, we had the last laugh and arrived back at The Mem 45 minutes later.
