Townsend hoping to be pitch perfect on Rodney Parade return
NICK Townsend will be back looking for some safe patches of grass again today when Newport County seek to build on their midweek win at Walsall.
A second victory in their last 13 League Two outings was just the boost Townsend and his teammates needed ahead of their return to Rodney Parade to face Stevenage this afternoon (3pm). Recent efforts have got rather bogged down on their home patch.
The lush surface in the Midlands was a bit of a luxury for the County players after slugging through the mud in Newport. Now the goal is to not to slip up again at home and prove to everyone County are still serious promotion challengers.
“We were just waiting for that win and it has been a long time coming. We’ve had to take some sucker punches, but the win in Walsall has put us right back into the mix,” said Townsend.
“We’ve got over our little blip and we just need to crack on - we all know what we’ve got to do. We sat down and talked about what’s needed moving forward and now it is just a case of getting our heads down.”
The physical strain of playing twice a week, every week, not to mention playing on a mud heap at home, is draining enough, but Townsend reckons the hardest part of playing at Rodney Parade these days is the mental side of things.
Not being able to rely on the pitch means concentration levels have to be higher than ever and he is mentally exhausted every time he gets back to the dressing room at home.
“It is hard to play any back passes now, as we were at the start of the season. From goal-kicks you have to look for a bit of grass in the six-yard box to kick from,” he said.
“It’s difficult, but we just have to deal with it. We knew the pitch was going to cut up because of all the games played on it and we are adapting to it now.
“The biggest problem is when the ball bobbles from the shots coming in from far out. You have to watch everything – you’ve got to be on it for every minute and it is mentally draining.
“I just tell my defenders to find a bit of grass to pass the ball onto so there isn’t a bobble when they are giving me the ball. Anything in between the goal you don’t know what is going to happen, it’s a lottery.
“It’s hard for me to get onto the ball and to try and play like we used to at the start of the season. Teams know that if you can get the first goal you can then just sit in and try to defend for the rest of the game.”