This Tuesday night, Newport County travel to Hampshire to take on Eastleigh, with a huge FA Cup clash with Manchester United awaiting the winners. The game promises to be a nail-biter for fans of both times, as Newport look to right their wrongs after conceding a late equaliser at Rodney Parade last weekend.
You have to go back over ten years to find our last trip to Eastleigh, with the Spitfires hosting us all the way back on February 10th, 2010. Exiles in the away end that day will remember a comfortable victory as we continued our push for promotion. Hopefully, the Eastleigh defence is just as generous this time around.
For those that can’t remember, the 2009/10 season saw us storm to the National League South title, sealing promotion with a record-breaking 103 points. We travelled to Eastleigh in February, having only lost one of the opening 26 games before our trip, a 1-0 defeat at Staines Town.
Our hosts, on the other hand, were having a fairly middling season. The Spitfires had finished third the previous season, losing to Hayes and Yeading in the play offs and had failed to build on that momentum.
Craig Reid got the party started for us in the 19th minute when Sam Foley was brought down in the area. Reid converted from the spot to put us a goal to the good. Foley himself was on the scoresheet a few minutes later, firing a spectacular effort past the Eastleigh keeper.
Staforde Palmer pulled one back for Eastleigh before the break, setting up a tense second half. The hosts, however, were unable to grab an equaliser and were made to pay in the 80th minute when Charlie Henry converted from the spot to make it 3-1.
There was still time for one more, though, with Sam Foley completing his brace in the 82nd minute to make it 4-1 and move us one game closer to promotion to the National League.