2008–09 Newport County A.F.C. season

The 2008–09 season was Newport County's fifth consecutive season in the Conference South and they had been ever-present since the introduction of the Conference North & South in 2004.

Newport County

2008–09 season
Chairman	Chris Blight
Manager	Dean Holdsworth
Stadium	Newport Stadium
Conference South	10th
FA Cup	Second qualifying round
FA Trophy	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Craig Reid (16) All: Craig Reid (21)
Highest home attendance	2,546 vs AFC Wimbledon (9 August 2008)
Lowest home attendance	540 vs Eastleigh (25 February 2009)
Average home league attendance	852
Home colours Away colours Third colours

After the sacking of Peter Beadle following the team's failure to make the play-offs for two consecutive seasons, Former Bolton and Wimbledon striker, Dean Holdsworth was announced as manager on 18 May 2008.[1] Holdsworth had been brought to the club as a player in February 2007, by previous manager Beadle, scoring three goals in five starts.[2][1] Newport were tipped as serious promotion challengers after the Leeds friendly,[3] but suffered a poor first half to the season, only achieving four wins. However, the second half of the season was a big improvement, with 12 wins and the beginning an unbeaten streak that would last a third of the way into the next season.

Season review

2008

The season began with the visit of AFC Wimbledon, which was billed as a Dons reunion, given Dean Holdsworth's previous history with the original Wimbledon F.C. [4] However, despite the largest crowd of the season, County started the campaign with a 4–1 loss. They would go on to lose again to the eventual champions, just before Christmas, with Newport just above the relegation zone.[5]

County had to wait another five games before their first win, with defeats away at Eastleigh and Team Bath, sandwiching draws with Chelmsford City and Dorchester Town, the latter of which produced the highest-scoring draw seen at Newport Stadium.[6] The win, at home to Hampton & Richmond Borough proved to be a false dawn, as a draw away at Bishop's Stortford and two more home defeats, to Havant & Waterlooville and St Albans City pushed Newport back into the relegation zone. The latter game proving to be so poor, that no Man of the Match was awarded.[7]

County moved up to 17th in the table following the 3–0 home win over Bromley, but then embarked on another winless run, with draws against Weston-super-Mare, Welling United, Basingstoke Town and Havant & Waterlooville, and defeats to Braintree Town and Hayes & Yeading left them just outside the relegation zone. The defeat to Hayes & Yeading was Newport's worst home league defeat for 12 years[8] with many supporters calling for manager Dean Holdsworth to resign.[9] A rare win was secured away at the rescheduled Maidenhead game, proving to be only the third in 17 matches. The original match was abandoned on 5 September due to torrential rain with the score deadlocked at 3–3.[10]

Following defeats to Bishop's Stortford, AFC Wimbledon and a draw with Thurrock, Newport were again just outside the relegation zone, but the final game of the year against Worcester City was won,[11] sparking a turnaround in fortunes for the second half of the season.

2009

The new year began in a much better fashion, with County securing as many wins in January as in the entirety of the first half of the season. By the time of the Bath City away game, Newport had put together a six-game unbeaten streak, rising to 13th in the table. The Bath game was lost due to a 90th-minute winner for the home side,[12] but the following home game to bottom-placed Bognor Regis Town was won, with County rising to 10th in the table as a result.[13] The next four games were lost however, with Newport slipping back down to 15th place. During this losing streak, County managed just a single goal – a penalty in the Bromley away game that would have been enough for a draw, but for a 89th-minute home winner.[14]

Following the defeat to Hayes & Yeading, there was a remarkable turnaround in form, with seven wins, two draws and only one loss for the remainder of the season. County finished the season in 10th place, with the beginning of an unbeaten streak into the next season that would ultimately extend to 20 games.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
42	16	11	15	50	51	−1	59	10	3	8	31	29	+2	6	8	7	19	22	−3

Last updated: 25 Apr 2009.
Source:

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A
Result	L	L	D	D	L	W	L	D	L	W	L	D	D	D	L	D	W	L	D	L	W	W	W	D	W	W	L	W	L	L	L	L	W	W	L	D	W	W	W	W	D	W
Position	20	20	19	17	18	17	17	18	20	17	17	17	16	18	19	19	17	17	18	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	14	10	11	12	14	15	14	12	15	15	14	12	12	10	10	10

Updated to match(es) played on 25 Apr 2009. Source: statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Squad statistics

(Substitute appearances in brackets)

Pos.	Name	League		Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FW	Scott Armitage	4 (10)	0	1 (2)	1	5 (12)	1
DF	Paul Bignot	23 (0)	1	5 (1)	0	28 (1)	1
GK	Keiron Blackburn	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	2 (0)	0
FW	Josh Brown	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
FW	Steve Butterworth	3 (1)	1	0 (0)	0	3 (1)	1
MF	Anthony Church	6 (1)	0	1 (0)	0	7 (1)	0
GK	Nicky Church	0 (1)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (1)	0
DF	Paul Cochlin	28 (0)	5	3 (0)	0	31 (0)	5
DF	Gary Colborne	0 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	2 (0)	0
DF	Dave Collins	9 (0)	1	1 (0)	0	10 (0)	1
DF	Aaron Cook	22 (2)	2	1 (0)	0	23 (2)	2
MF	Kevin Cooper	19 (9)	1	6 (2)	2	25 (11)	3
MF	Nathan Davies	22 (4)	0	0 (2)	0	22 (6)	0
FW	Robert Duffy	12 (9)	1	4 (2)	2	16 (11)	3
FW	Jamal Easter	1 (4)	1	0 (0)	0	1 (4)	1
DF	Ben Evans	0 (1)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (1)	0
MF	Richard Evans	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	2 (0)	0
MF	Sam Foley	14 (0)	4	0 (0)	0	14 (0)	4
DF	Martyn Giles	31 (3)	2	5 (1)	0	36 (4)	2
FW	Paul Hall	11 (2)	0	1 (2)	1	12 (4)	1
FW	Jamie Harries	0 (0)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0
MF	Adie Harris	13 (4)	2	7 (0)	1	20 (4)	3
DF	Dan Harrison	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
MF	Callum Hart	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
FW	Chris Hartland	0 (0)	0	3 (0)	0	3 (0)	0
FW	Danny Hill	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
DF	Ian Hillier	4 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	4 (0)	0
DF	Andrew Hughes	0 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	2 (0)	0
MF	Craig Hughes	16 (1)	3	4 (1)	1	20 (2)	4
GK	Scott James	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
MF	Lee Jenkins	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
DF	Steve Jenkins	20 (2)	0	4 (0)	0	24 (2)	0
FW	Josh Klein-Davies	0 (3)	0	1 (1)	0	1 (4)	0
MF	Kris Leek	15 (10)	0	4 (1)	0	19 (11)	0
FW	Tommy Lyons	0 (2)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (2)	0
MF	Ricky Manship	0 (3)	0	2 (0)	0	2 (3)	0
FW	Kaid Mohamed	5 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	5 (0)	0
FW	Leon Osei	3 (3)	0	0 (1)	0	3 (4)	0
MF	Luke Prosser	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
MF	Craig Reid	25 (2)	16	6 (0)	5	31 (2)	21
DF	Justyn Roberts	4 (0)	1	2 (0)	0	6 (0)	1
MF	Scott Rogers	6 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	6 (0)	0
MF	Danny Rose	40 (1)	8	6 (1)	3	46 (2)	11
GK	Erwin Sak	1 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
DF	Nick Skelton	2 (1)	0	0 (0)	0	2 (1)	0
DF	Matt Smith	2 (5)	0	1 (0)	0	3 (5)	0
DF	Kevin Stephens	13 (5)	0	1 (0)	0	14 (5)	0
MF	Safian Suplinski	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
GK	Glyn Thompson	39 (0)	0	6 (0)	0	45 (0)	0
GK	Tony Tucker	1 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
DF	Wayne Turk	25 (0)	1	2 (0)	0	27 (0)	1
DF	Ashley Vickers	17 (4)	0	6 (0)	1	23 (4)	1
FW	Phil Walsh	4 (4)	0	0 (1)	1	4 (5)	1

Fixtures and results

Pre-season friendlies

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
Thu 10 Jul 2008	Cinderford Town	A	0–0
Sat 19 Jul 2008	Leamington	A	1–1	D.Collins
Tue 22 Jul 2008	Carmarthen Town	H	0–1
Thu 14 Jul 2008	Caldicot Town	A	4–1	C.Hughes 2, P.Walsh, R.Duffy
Sat 26 Jul 2008	Merthyr Tydfil	A	1–1	D.Rose
Wed 30 Jul 2008	Exeter City	H	2–1	D.Collins (P), P.Hall
Sat 8 Aug 2008	Leeds United XI	H	0–1

Conference South

Main article: 2008–09 Football Conference § Conference South

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
Sat 9 Aug 2008	AFC Wimbledon	H	1–4	D.Collins	2,546
Tue 12 Aug 2008	Eastleigh	A	2–3	K.Cooper, D.Rose	787
Sat 16 Aug 2008	Chelmsford City	A	0–0		1,093
Sat 23 Aug 2008	Dorchester Town	H	4–4	D.Rose, A.Harris, J.Easter, C.Hughes	852
Mon 25 Aug 2008	Team Bath	A	0–2		563
Sat 30 Aug 2008	Hampton & Richmond Borough	H	1–0	C.Hughes	931
Wed 3 Sep 2008	Havant & Waterlooville	H	0–2		859
Sat 13 Sep 2008	Bishop's Stortford	A	1–1	R.Duffy (P)	414
Sat 20 Sep 2008	St Albans City	H	0–1		886
Sat 4 Oct 2008	Bromley	H	3–0	P.Bignot, C.Reid (P), C.Hughes	746
Sat 18 Oct 2008	Braintree Town	A	2–3	J.Roberts, C.Reid	626
Mon 20 Oct 2008	Weston-super-Mare	A	1–1	D.Rose	528
Sat 25 Oct 2008	Welling United	H	0–0		772
Sat 1 Nov 2008	Basingstoke Town	A	0–0		419
Sat 8 Nov 2008	Hayes & Yeading	H	1–5	C.Reid	679
Sat 15 Nov 2008	Havant & Waterlooville	A	1–1	P.Cochlin	601
Tue 18 Nov 2008	Maidenhead United	A	1–0	C.Reid	315
Sat 29 Nov 2008	Bishop's Stortford	H	0–1		654
Sat 6 Dec 2008	Thurrock	A	0–0		309
Sat 20 Dec 2008	AFC Wimbledon	A	0–3		2,945
Fri 26 Dec 2008	Worcester City	H	1–0	A.Harris	822
Sat 3 Jan 2009	Chelmsford City	H	3–1	C.Reid 3	902
Sat 17 Jan 2009	Fisher Athletic	A	3–1	S.Butterworth, C.Reid (P), M.Giles	249
Mon 19 Jan 2009	Worcester City	A	0–0		759
Sat 24 Jan 2009	Basingstoke Town	H	3–0	A.Cook, D.Rose, C.Reid	841
Wed 28 Jan 2009	Weston-super-Mare	H	1–0	A.Cook	913
Sat 31 Jan 2009	Bath City	A	1–2	C.Reid	1,137
Wed 11 Feb 2009	Bognor Regis Town	H	2–1	D.Rose, P.Cochlin	618
Sat 14 Feb 2009	Maidenhead United	H	0–1		672
Sat 21 Feb 2009	Bromley	A	1–2	D.Rose (P)	561
Wed 25 Feb 2009	Eastleigh	H	0–1		540
Sat 28 Feb 2009	Hayes & Yeading	A	0–2		311
Tue 3 Mar 2009	Hampton & Richmond Borough	A	1–0	P.Cochlin	409
Sat 7 Mar 2009	Braintree Town	H	2–1	C.Reid (P), P.Cochlin	712
Wed 18 Mar 2009	Bath City	H	0–4		734
Sat 21 Mar 2009	St Albans City	A	1–1	S.Foley	494
Sat 28 Mar 2009	Bognor Regis Town	A	1–0	C.Reid	362
Sat 4 Apr 2009	Fisher Athletic	H	4–0	M.Giles, C.Reid, S.Foley, D.Rose	641
Sat 11 Apr 2009	Dorchester Town	A	1–0	C.Reid	519
Mon 13 Apr 2009	Team Bath	H	4–2	C.Reid, W.Turk, P.Cochlin, D.Rose	758
Sat 18 Apr 2009	Thurrock	H	1–1	C.Reid	809
Sat 25 Apr 2009	Welling United	A	2–0	S.Foley 2	724

FA Cup

Main article: 2008–09 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
2Q	24 Sep 2008	Dorchester Town	A	2–2	R.Duffy (P), D.Rose	396
2Qr	1 Oct 2008	Dorchester Town	H	0–1	C.Reid	653

FA Trophy

Main article: 2008–09 FA Trophy

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Notes
3Q	22 Nov 2008	Andover	A	3–0	D.Rose, C.Reid, C.Hughes	264
1	13 Dec 2008	Rushden & Diamonds	H	1–1	C.Reid	603
1r	13 Dec 2008	Rushden & Diamonds	H	1–1 a.e.t.	C.Reid	421	Lost 3–5 on penalties

Gwent Senior Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Notes
R1	10 Dec 2008	Cwmbran Town	A	4–1	A Harris, K Cooper, S Armitage, A Vickers	200
SF	7 Apr 2009	Newport Civil Service	A	0–1		250

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	AFC Wimbledon	42	26	10	6	86	36	+50	88	Champions, promoted
2	Hampton & Richmond Borough	42	25	10	7	74	37	+37	85	Play-offs
3	Eastleigh	42	25	8	9	69	49	+20	83	Play-offs
4	Hayes & Yeading United	42	24	9	9	74	43	+31	81	Play-off winners, promoted
5	Chelmsford City	42	23	8	11	72	52	+20	77	Play-offs
6	Maidenhead United	42	21	8	13	57	46	+11	71
7	Bath City	42	20	8	14	56	45	+11	68
8	Welling United	42	19	11	12	61	44	+17	68
9	Bishop's Stortford	42	17	8	17	60	60	0	59
10	Newport County	42	16	11	15	50	51	−1	59
11	Team Bath	42	16	7	19	62	64	−2	55	Resigned ¹
12	St Albans City	42	14	12	16	56	50	+6	54
13	Bromley	42	15	9	18	60	64	−4	54
14	Braintree Town	42	14	10	18	57	54	+3	52
15	Havant & Waterlooville	42	11	15	16	59	58	+1	48
16	Worcester City	42	12	11	19	38	53	−15	47
17	Weston-super-Mare	42	12	11	19	43	68	−25	47
18	Basingstoke Town	42	10	16	16	36	55	−19	46
19	Dorchester Town	42	10	12	20	39	61	−22	42
20	Thurrock	42	9	13	20	54	60	−6	40
21	Bognor Regis Town	42	7	12	23	33	68	−35	26	7 points deducted, relegated ²
22	Fisher Athletic	42	5	3	34	22	100	−78	18	Relegated

¹ Team Bath resigned from the league[15]

² Bognor Regis Town deducted 7 points[16]

Key
	Division Champions
	Promoted
	Into play-offs
	Relegated

References

1. "Holdsworth takes on Newport job". BBC Sport. 18 May 2008.
2. "Newport sign veteran Holdsworth". BBC Sport. 9 February 2007.
3. "Newport County boss remaining buoyant". Western Mail. 4 August 2008.
4. "Deano delighted with Dons reunion". South Wales Argus. 3 July 2008.
5. "Keds puts the pressure on old boy Deano". Sutton & Croydon Guardian. 20 December 2008.
6. "Match Report - Newport County 4–4 Dorchester Town". Newport County A.F.C. 23 August 2008.
7. "Match Report - Newport County 0–1 St Albans City". Newport County A.F.C. 20 September 2008.
8. "County 1 Hayes & Yeading 5". South Wales Argus. 8 November 2008.
9. "Deano: I'm not about to quit". South Wales Argus. 10 November 2008.
10. "Maidenhead-County abandoned". South Wales Argus. 5 September 2008.
11. "County 1 Worcester 0". South Wales Argus. 26 December 2008.
12. "Match Report - Bath City 2–1 Newport County". South Wales Argus. 31 January 2008.
13. "County 2 Bognor 1 – Exiles move into top ten". South Wales Argus. 11 February 2009.
14. "Match Report - Bromley 2–1 Newport County". Newport County A.F.C. 21 February 2009.
15. "Team Bath resign from Conference". BBC Sport. 9 April 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
16. "Bognor hit with seven point deduction". The Argus. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.

External links

• Newport County AFC 2008-2009 : Results
• Newport County's results from season 2008/2009