Norman swoops to conquer Orient

CAMERON Norman struck late to fire Newport County to their first hat-trick of wins for almost a year.

The Exiles were frustrated by a resilient Leyton Orient side for most of the game, but Norman’s goal in the 84th minute pushed James Rowberry’s side into the League Two automatic promotion places.

But the four teams immediately below them all have games in hand making it a real fight at the top end of the League Two table.

This was a significant victory for County at Brisbane Road against a Leyton Orient side who have only lost twice in 12 home league games this season.

There was very little action in the first half as both sides cancelled each other out, with defences very much on top.

The closest Newport came to breaking the deadlock during the first 45 minutes was when Alex Fisher’s header was acrobatically saved by Lawrence Vigouroux.

Newport were level at the interval, but they began to gain the ascendancy in the early stages of the second half.

An awful tackle on Ryan Haynes by Jordan Brown earnt the Leyton Orient man a booking. Newport captain Mickey Demetriou was also shown a yellow card for a mistimed tackle on Paul Smyth.

The closest Orient came to scoring all game was when Hector Kyprianou’s powerful volley was blocked by Nick Townsend.

Newport began to ramp up the pressure in the final quarter of this game as Orient began to struggle with the pace the Exiles were trying to put on the game.

Just when it looked like Newport would have to make do with a draw, Norman slammed home at the far post after a tremendous corner.

But Newport were forced to defend for the remaining five minutes of as their hosts threw the kitchen sink at them. And Joe Pask was the hero when he cleared a header from Kyprianou with just minutes remaining.

Orient continued to lay siege to the Newport penalty box, but after threatening on more than one occasion the Exiles weathered the storm and returned to Wales with all three points.