Shephard strike puts County on way to win

NEWPORT County sealed a muchneeded 2-0 win over 10-man Crawley at Rodney Parade.

Liam Shephard’s stunning second-half strike opened the scoring before Aaron Lewis sealed three points in what was the 10th minute of added time.

Mike Flynn’s Exiles stay seventh in League Two and their play-off spot is far from sealed, but this was a vital success in their bid for promotion.

Shephard’s goal was good enough to win any game and after Crawley’s frustrations were complete late on when Tom Nichols was sent off for elbowing Shephard, Lewis completed the win in the game’s 100th minute.

Home manager Flynn made a big call in the Newport goal, dropping Nick Townsend and bringing in Tom King. Townsend should have done better for Cambridge’s winner last Saturday, but removing him from the starting XV seemed harsh given his impressive form this season.

Matty Dolan was absent again. Lewis Collins drove just wide from Padraig Amond’s pullback with less than a minute on the clock in what amounted to a brilliant early chance. Scot Bennett then flicked Josh Sheehan’s cross on target.

It was all County. Captain Joss Labadie cut on to his left foot. His effort from the edge of the box struck the post and while Amond tucked home the rebound, he was flagged offside.

Crawley assistant Lee Bradbury clearly wasn’t happy with his team’s early struggles and he was booked for berating referee Alan Young. Crawley’s Nichols also came close to putting Ryan Haynes’ corner into his own net and the only thing missing for Newport was a goal as Sheehan prompted and probed.

Amond rattled the crossbar from close range just before the break and County must have gone to the break wondering how the game was goalless.

County finally took the lead in the 52nd minute and what a goal it was. There looked little on when Shephard picked up possession on the corner of the box and 30 yards from goal, but the defender’s brilliant strike found the bottom corner after a slight deflection. Labadie gave County an injury scare but after twice going down injured, the Newport skipper stayed on to battle through. Crawley’s James Tilley had a header saved by King on a rare Crawley chance, but in the final 15 minutes the visitors finally started to grow into the game.

Crawley saw more of the ball, but failed to create anything.