Amond and co brush Mariners aside with ease
NEWPORT HARDLY GET OUT OF SECOND GEAR AS TOWN SLIP FURTHER INTO DEEP TROUBLE
PADRAIG Amond once again scored against his former club as Grimsby Town were comfortably beaten 2-0 by league leaders Newport County.
The Irishman struck from the penalty spot just before half-time after Scott Twine’s deflected free-kick had put the Welsh side ahead, and that proved more than enough as Town’s all-too familiar problems came to roost again.
The team news ahead of the game produced a big surprise as club captain James McKeown dropped to the bench, with goalkeeping coach Sam Russell deputising, just over 24 hours after Ian Holloway’s warning that no-one was safe as he takes a close look at his squad before the January window.
Elsewhere, Harry Clifton made his 100th appearance for the club as he returned to the side, while Terry Taylor and Montel Gibson also earned places in the side as Danny Preston, Owen Windsor and the injured Sean
Scannell made way.
Town’s veteran goalkeeper would have been relieved not to have been beaten within the opening couple of minutes as the visitors went perilously close to taking the lead. Robbie Willmott’s free-kick from deep was floated in and flicked on by Joss Labadie, with the ball bouncing onto the post as a static Russell could only watch on and hope for the best.
Having struggled to venture out of their own half during the opening few minutes, Town managed to play themselves into proceedings, with Owura Edwards threatening as he beat two Newport players on his way to the penalty area before seeing his final ball to Kyle Bennett cut out.
Moments later, Gibson was presented with a golden opportunity as Elliott Hewitt nicked the ball away before sliding it into the striker’s path, but he could only strike wide of the near post as Nick Townsend went untroubled.
The hosts would learn to rue that missed opportunity as the visitors took the lead midway through the first half.
Luke Hendrie brought Ryan Haines down 30 yards from goal – and received a yellow card in the process to rule him out of Saturday’s clash with Mansfield in the process.
Twine stepped up, and despite it looking an ambitious effort, his gamble paid off as the free-kick deflected off the wall and wrongfooted Russell before nestling into the corner of the net to put the leaders in front. Town somewhat weathered the storm and looked as though they would head in at the break just the one goal down – that was until a rush of blood saw Danny Rose bring down Twine in the penalty area.
Amond stepped up and, rather predictably, scored once again against his former side – despite Russell going the right way – to deal the hammer blow to Town’s hopes. Despite having a mountain to climb, they almost found a way back into the game shortly after the start of the second half as substitute Owen Windsor almost made an immediate impact, seeing his free-kick crash against the crossbar.
Town huffed and puffed as they searched for a glimmer of hope, but Newport were firmly in control as they gladly settled for the occasional foray forward.
Even then, they seemed more likely to extend their lead, with Amond again threatening with a couple of cheeky flicks which didn’t quite come off for him.
In the end, there was no doubting the result as yet more questions arose for the Mariners ahead of a crucial run of games.