HUGHES THE DADDY AT LONG LAST
NEWPORT County’s wait for a first away win back in the Football League continues but a first goal in more than twoand-a-half seasons for Andrew Hughes secured a point against Scunthorpe that had boss Justin Edinburgh going back in time.
Centre-back Hughes cracked the Exiles’ equaliser in the 62nd minute – an hour after the home side had gone ahead with their first attack through Sam Winnall.
“It wasn’t long ago this team (Scunthorpe) were playing in the Championship while we were in the Southern Premier Division,” said Edinburgh.
“We can’t get carried away but again we’ve come and given a good account of ourselves.We can be satisfied with a good day’s work.
“It’s unlike us to start a game slowly, but we changed it at half-time and, what was like us, was the endeavour and workrate we showed in the second half.
“We got them on the back foot and with a bit more care and quality we might have been able to nick it.
“We’ve got to try to keep the momentum we’ve got because it can quickly go.”
The crowd had hardly had time to take their seats when Iron winger Terry Hawkridge whipped the ball in from the left-hand edge of the penalty area and Winnall guided a header into the back of the net from five yards.
Newport responded by enjoying plenty of possession, but not until three minutes into the second half, when keeper Sam Slocombe dived brilliantly to push a Lee Minshull header around the post, did they really begin to threaten the home goal.
Scunthorpe should have doubled their lead just after the hour mark, but Winnall elected to chip Lenny Pidgeley after being sent clear by Hawkridge’s through ball and the Exiles keeper comfortably managed to pluck the ball out of the air.
The visitors then rubbed salt into the wounds by going straight down the other end of the field and winning a corner, from which Hughes struck for the first time since March 2011.
It meant a fourth successive game without a win for the Iron – despite the fact they have taken the lead in all of their past three games.
“I thought we were the best team by a mile in the first half,” groaned Scunthorpe boss Brian Laws. “But Newport have had a lot of success over the past 18 months and they haven’t got into this league by giving up and throwing the towel in.
“They showed their togetherness and played with a system that is very effective. It was brutal at times – and not very pleasing to the eye.
“We dealt with it for the most part, other than when they got the equaliser. “But it meant we got sucked into playing a way we didn’t want too, especially when we began to
tire.”