Newport - 2

THIS week bottom of the table Abergavenny entertained a Newport side, and with each team having little to play for, it was Aber who slumped to another loss.

Going into the match, Aber's centre defence was covered by the young pairing of Alex Morgan, and Issac Pritchard, after last weeks encounter against Whitchurch saw the retirement of regular centre John Meredith with suspected concussion.

Left and right back were covered by Geraint Davies and Tom Johnsone respectively, with Luke Rees in goal.

Midfield saw the return of the skilled Chris Bu and work horse Kevin Phillips. Pete Hewinson, and Alex Mac completed the midfield line up. The fixture also saw a welcome return for Tony Clements in partnership with Tom O' Leary.

With the fates of both teams pretty much sealed for the season, the first half got off to a fairly predictable start, with little adventurous play from either side.

Pritchard and Morgan dealt with the limited Newport attack, and looked composed and reassured in defence.

Good positional play by Johnsone was also noted, in dealing with the speedy right wing.

Rees was responsible for a very decent save about half way through the first half to stop the ball sneaking into the right hand post after a short corner.

Several more short corners were both conceded and defended, and Abergavenny also had their fair share of both possession and attacking play, but neither team were really able to string together the killer passes required to route the defence.

Unusually for the home team, the half time score line was a 0-0.

With three players on the subs bench, Dilwyn Thomas came on at left midfield, and Andy banks in the centre midfield. Ducan Mellvile also came on in the striker position.

Despite these changes, it was Newport who finally got the breakthrough, just managing to touch an awkward bouncing ball into the back of the net, for what looked to be a fortuitous goal.

If the Newport goal was blessed with luck, then the Abergavenny response was certainly not. With a cracking piece of passing hockey, O' Leary found Thomas free on the left wing position. Running into the D Thomas unleashed a net busting shot, to equalise the score.

With the end of the game in sight, a rare lapse in defensive cohesion brought about Abergavenny's downfall.

Hewinson, from a set piece play, passed across the field to left back Davies. However the speedy Newport forward was able to intercept the pass, and move it into the D for the Newport winner.

Despite Abergavenny pressing forward to try and save the point, it was not to be. Abergavenny played reasonably well, but in the end looked to be slightly unfortunate, with the rub of the green going to the visitors.