County come back sees the points shared
Newport went into the game against Exeter hopeful of bouncing back from their premature exit of the FA Cup last weekend. County came out of the gates the stronger of the two sides in what was an extremely fast paced opening first 20 minutes, Aaron O’Connor curling a shot just over the bar after only 50 seconds.
Unfortunately whilst Newport had several chances they lacked the quality final ball needed to get on the score sheet. Chris Zebroski saw his effort parried away by Christy Pym in the Exeter goal after he had cut onto his right foot following a run down the left wing.
Exeter came into the game more and more as the minutes ticked by and they were rewarded for their efforts with a penalty on 21 minutes which was placed straight down the middle by Tom Nichols as Joe Day went left to open the scoring. This was followed only a few minutes by an attempted bicycle kick which was no trouble at all Day in the County goal as he watched the ball sail fifteen feet over the bar.
County responded with a spell of pressure on the Exeter goal around the half hour mark. Firstly Zebroski curled a right footed shot from a tight angle onto the bar and then a couple of minutes later after a cross from the left hand side, Ismail Yakubu saw his left footed shot on the turn go a couple of yards wide of Pym’s right hand post.
Exeter doubled their lead on 40 minutes after County failed to close them down and Graham Cummings was able to curl a right footed shot from 18 yards into the very top left corner beyond the stretching finger tips of Joe Day to give Exeter a 2-0 lead which they would take into the half time break.
HALF TIME: NEWPORT COUNTY 0-2 EXETER CITY
County came out for the second half a changed side, dominating the early possession. Their hard work paid off just five minutes into the half when Yan Klukowski glanced a header into the bottom right corner of the net form Jackson’s long throw to bring the deficit to just a single goal. It was only two minutes later when Max Porter fired a rocket of a shot from thirty yards out beating Pym again to the bottom right corner of the net and with only seven minutes of the second half played, County were level.
Newport continued to throw everything at Exeter with Klukowski again finding himself alone in front of goal just before the hour mark, but his right footed shot was straight at the Exeter keeper. A few minutes later and Curtis Obeng muscled passed his defender on his way into the penalty area but he was forced off balance whilst shooting and his effort ended up wide.
Exeter were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area late on and came close, as Matthew Grimes’s left footed curling effort hit the post before County were able to clear their lines. That proved to be the last real chance of the game as both sides continued to look for a winner. County now unbeaten in the league in six, ninth in the table, and only three points outside the playoffs.
FULL TIME: NEWPORT COUNTY 2-2 EXETER CITY