Shortly after half-time Justin Edinburgh, in the home technical area at Rodney Parade, trapped the ball and delivered it 20 yards to the thrower in one nonchalant touch. It was possibly the best pass of a strenuous match between two teams recovering from wretched starts in League Two. Newport County had won four of their previous five, Accrington Stanley six out of nine. “Our passing was not there today,” Edinburgh said after a 1-1 draw. “It was very frustrating but sometimes you have to give the opposition credit.”
John Coleman, Accrington’s manager, also praised his side and was the more aggrieved with one point. “We defended well,” he said, “blocking a lot. We had two chances at one up. We had them on the ropes. You’ve got to finish them off.”
They had taken the lead beyond the hour when the right side of County’s three-man central defence went missing and Sean Maguire cashed in with a deflection to beat the outstanding Joe Day. Shay McCartan, from the same area, then hit a post before Joe Pigott’s 25-yard curler out of the blue to the top-right corner not only equalised but steadied Newport sufficiently to see out the match on level terms. Edinburgh admitted that, having “ended the first half strongly, we didn’t start the second how we finished and it seemed everything was running away”.
County are enjoying a 10-year lease at Newport Dragons’ ground and, for all the probing of Mark Byrne and flicked midfield passes of Lee Minshull, Accrington’s four lineout men in defence allowed no headway and cut short attacks with long-legged interceptions. The pitch had seen Newcastle’s Falcons beat the Dragons 17 hours previously. Within 20 minutes of the finish the H-posts were going up again. Between times there had been enough Garryowens to make even a Dragon yawn. The wind did not help.
In general, though, a fair wind blows on County, as it has on Accrington through Coleman. Both clubs have recently regained League status. Three promotions in his first seven years took Accrington back in 2006. After 12 he tried Rochdale and Southport without distinction before returning to pick up the pieces from James Beattie’s dire start. Perhaps, like Keith Hill with Rochdale, he has one-club magic.
Edinburgh may turn out the same for Newport. He has just completed three years with them by way of Billericay, Fisher, Grays and Rushden & Diamonds. In his first they reached the FA Trophy final. In his second, their centenary, they returned to Wembley and won the Conference play-off final. Last year, having kicked off their return with a 4-1 home win over Accrington, they were seventh at this stage, as they are now, held it to the turn of the year and ended up 14th. After 25 years away, via home games in Moreton-in-Marsh and Gloucester, they are consolidating with due regard for times past, good and bad.
They retain a warm association with Carl Zeiss Jena, who beat them in a Uefa Cup-Winners’ Cup quarter-final in 1981, and gave up American owners before most clubs thought of them after theirs led them out of League and business with debts of £330,000. They have had lottery luck too, reining in Les Scadding, a local £45.5m winner and former trucker as chairman. He is proving a proper fan with no lorry-to-limo transformation above the club’s station.
It is rather the opposite. In May the midfielder Michael Flynn became head of the academy and soon engaged four other first-teamers to coach the juniors. Newport are bonding and building. “The gaffer and his assistants have also taken sessions,” Flynn said. “We’re one club.”
Edinburgh, on good terms with Swansea, was grateful for a third loan player, Curtis Obeng, to cover injuries on Saturday. The manager, 44, looks as trim as when, with Tottenham, he won the FA Cup in 1991 and League Cup in 1999 when, having been sent off for raising his arms to Robbie Savage, he got his medal only after it was shown that Savage had over-reacted to minimal contact. Last week Savage, summarising on West Brom v Manchester United for Radio Five Live, commended “a good foul by Rojo” and “Blind, who has taken one for his team”, as both were booked for wilful late tackles in a frantic finale. The BBC may think this is fair comment after the 9pm watershed but Edinburgh passes as a better servant of the game.
