Newport County (H) Sunday 29 Dec, 3pm

Match Centre 24/25
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"At Severn’s mouth … Scenes dear to memory,
The voice of Ebbw in his lovely park"

(Davies)

The way this season is panning out I must confess to being somewhat short of superlatives. Certain contributors (no names, no pack drill) back in August were adamant that we were doomed to mid-table mediocrity at best, having fallen away from a possible play-off berth in the final few games of the preceding season.

Yet now we find the club 9 points clear at the top of the table, with a game in hand over the 2nd and 3rd sides if you please! Every game that comes along has brought with it the thought that “our run can’t last, this will be the one that trips us up” … and yet … and yet here we are, 5 wins on the bounce and clean sheets to boot. The one certainty is that in order to NOT end up as champions there will have to be negative events of a seismic-proportion.

Speaking of which, Mat Sadler is reported to be of the opinion that Nathan Lowe will either stay at Walsall for the rest of his loan spell, or return to Stoke City - he is ruling out loans to other clubs. Whichever way that domino falls, Sadler leaves us in no doubt that plans are in place. The worst case scenario would be that Lowe could make his last appearance for us in this game…

So, Newport County - what kind of season are they having under their Portuguese manager Nelson Jardim? In general looking at the bare statistics you’d have to say “pretty poor”, sitting 18th in League 2 (albeit 9 points above the drop) on 26 points with a goal difference of minus 7. But don’t be deceived - they’ve had some successes, such as two hat-tricks in the same game when they thumped Milton Keynes Dons 6-3. There is one current player connection in James Clarke, who was an unused substitute in today’s defeat at Bromley. Newport’s recent form:-

November 16th Grimsby Town (H) Drew 0-0
November 23rd Notts County (A) Drew 0-0
December 3rd AFC Wimbledon (A) Drew 2-2
December 14th Colchester Utd (A) Drew 0-0
December 21st M K Dons (H) Won 6-3
December 26th Bromley (A) Lost 5-2

Whatever happens in this game (and the next one) we will still be top of the pile going into 2025, and in the prediction stakes this game must be seen as another 3 points gained towards attaining Champions status come May (or before). But as those who have followed the Saddlers for many years will attest - “Yes, but look what they did to M K Dons” - and then memories of Fleetwood Town come to mind.

However, staying positive … I reckon a 3-1 home win shouldn’t be out of our reach, with Lowe, Jellis and Adomah on target.

UTS

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Great preview as ever.

It’s a matter of rest, recovery and play on a loop at this time of year.

I think we’ve enough in the tank for another three points. But it won’t be easy or straightforward.

3-2 5,854 (398)
Jamma, Allen and Jellis.

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Surely we cannot go on winning can we ? Not sure about this match. Newport seem a strange team. Anyway I think we will win 2-1.

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Won 6-3 then lost 5-2, so 8 scored, 8 conceded in the last 2 games.

0-0 written all over it :joy:

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Questions keep being asked of this team and answers are found. We’re not going to win every game but in the form we are currently showing it’s going to take an exceptional performance for any team to beat us.
The togetherness of the squad is there for all to see.
Bromley looked like they would bag the three points but we never gave up.
We went to vale and Harrogate and won despite horrible conditions.
Not only are we winning games but keeping clean sheets too.

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Great preview.

Really loving watching us play. Good all over the park. We appear to be able to shift up and down the gears. We seem to have a knack of scoring even if not quite at our best. Haven’t felt like this in a long time and logically we should win this.

But football has a way of bringing teams back to earth and sooner or later that’s got to happen to us, hasn’t it?

So I’m going for a similar match and result to our 3 - 3 here a few years back but this time with DJ to score an absolute screamer to equalise with the last kick of the game just like Wilko.

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Think we will win this one and lose or draw at Notts. Either way we will still be top. And my predictions are crap anyway (see Prediction League table).

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Im going for an emphatic 4-1 victory. Christ alive whats going on. Im on such an emotional high at the moment.

Come on you reds.

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I keep waiting for the bubble to burst. We will obviously have a few bad results before the end of the season, but providing we bounce back quickly like we have done so far it will be no problem.

I can’t see past a Walsall win here, probably similar to yesterday, an even first half then press them into oblivion in the second half and run out comfortable winners. 2-0 again.

Jellis is due a goal, so I will go for Jellis and Lowe as scorers.

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Think they’ve reached the point now where any loss would be classfied as a shock defeat!

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I’m taking a couple of Villa fans along so hopefully I haven’t cursed it especially as I’ve said how good we can be

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Any sign of his bike?

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They’ve just conceded five at Bromley all stars. Looking at those highlights they struggle with defending set plays.

Only complacency can hurt this team now. 3-1 win.

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Since the defeat at home to Fleetwood on October 1st, we have won 8 and drawn 4. Statistically, it isn’t uncommon for successful teams to go on unbeaten runs lasting longer than ours, so I’m very much in the glass full up mode and can’t see it ending here.
These have had some strange results of late going from 0-0’s to free scoring in the matter of a couple of games.
I see a decent win, something like 3-0 or 3-1. Also, can see it being the first pick on many an acca this weekend.
Hoping the fog has buggered off aswell.

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They cant defend corners,Allen to score direct,Jamma,Lowe and Harry
Easy 4 nil win

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They have Kyle hudlin

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This Walsall squad is the best we’ve had for years and without a doubt is the most consistent entertaining league two team on form so far this season.
If we can keep these players together through January we ought to win the league and therein lies the concern for me.
Clubs higher up the pyramid must be keeping an eye on what’s happening with this team. I just hope what MS has started to build will manage to come to fruition and the players will stick with us on the journey to better days ahead.

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Bizarre team this season

30+ goals in there last 7 or 8 games but also a good few nil nil draws !

Wonder if they’d see us as a “good point” and go for a tight game. Or turn it in to an open shoot out.

I’m going to put some money on a nil nil and some money on over 5.5 goals.

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By January 4th when we play Cheltenham we will have played 5 games in just over two weeks. I know it is the same for everyone else but I would like to see a few changes for this game to avoid injuries through fatigue and to keep players being able to continue to put in a shift. Something like the line up for the EFL trophy games would do with key players coming at 60 minutes if needed. I know you shouldn’t change a winning team but we are a squad, not a team and players need help through this period.

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Lovely preview, Welshie. Where do you get those highly appropriate quotations?
Don’t answer that: we need the mystery and wonder :blush:

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