Newport County return to Sky Bet League Two action on Tuesday night when they make the trip to the Wham Stadium to face Accrington Stanley (7.45pm).
The Exiles will be looking to bounce back following their narrow 2-1 defeat to Chesterfield on Saturday afternoon.
Opposition Form
Tuesday’s opposition currently sit four places and seven points behind County as they are in 21st place with 36 points after 35 games.
With the threat of relegation looming John Doolan’s side will be battling to retain their almost twenty year football league status with eleven games remaining.
The Reds have struggled defensively this season conceding 54 goals and conceding the third most goals per match in the league (1.5).
Despite their defensive woes this season, Accrington’s key player this season has been attacker Shaun Walley. The versatile forward is the Merseyside based sides top goal scorer (8) and joint top assister (4).
Walley is in his third season with Accrington and he looks to eclipse his goal tally for last year (8) with ten games to go. Jardim’s side will be well aware of the ability of Whalley after he scored the reds only goal against County back in August.
Head-to-Head
The Exiles were unfortunately defeated twice by Accrington Stanley in the 2023-24 campaign. But following a victory against the reds earlier in the season County have the opportunity to enact revenge as they could win all games against them in the 24/25 season.
However, historically County have had the upper hand in most of their previous encounters against Accrington with six wins and four draws in the last thirteen games against this weekend's opponents.
Previous Encounter
Newport County have beaten Accrington Stanley once already in the third league game of the season as the Exiles were 3-1 victors at home.
After an emphatic first home game and win against Doncaster the week before, County made it back to back 3-1 wins.
Shane McLoughlin’s deflected effort gave the Exiles an early lead before Shaun Whalley equalised just before half-time.
Courtney Baker-Richardson's pin-point penalty retained Newport’s lead shortly before Aaron Wildig rounded off a fine afternoon in NP19.
Accrington Stanley, who are they?
The Owd’ Reds are one of the founders of the football league in 1888 and there have been many iterations of the club throughout the years.
In 1968, the current Accrington Stanley were formed and returned to the football league in 2006. They have gone onto have many successes during this period such as winning the league two title in the 2017/18 season.
The club came into the national spotlight in 1989 after featuring in a very popular advert for the Milk Marketing Board where the infamous slogan “Accrington Stanley, Who are they?”, was created.
Shared Shirts
Several players have lined up for both Accrington Stanley and Newport County over the years.
Goalkeeper, Jonny Maxted spent a season in Lancashire in 2018/19, playing for Stanley on 20 occasions before leaving for Exter City at the end of the campaign.
Maxted left the Exiles in the summer to join Brackley Town playing 38 games for the team top of the National League North.
One of his team mates during that time was none other than Offrande Zanzala. Zanzala spent six games on loan from derby at Stanley in 2018 before signing for the club full-time. He would go on to make 51 appearances, scoring ten times before leaving for Crewe.
Similarly to Maxted, Zanzala left in the summer to join National League side AFC Fylde.
Key Stats
- The Reds have the most yellow cards (102) and fouls per match (15.1) this season.
- A win over Accrington Stanley will secure Newport County’s fourth double of the season (Gillingham, Morecambe and Crewe).
- Accrington Stanley have won just three of their 13 Football League games against Newport County (D4 L6), though each of those victories have come via at least two-goal margins.
- After going unbeaten across their first five away Football League games against Accrington Stanley (W2 D3), Newport County last on their last visit to face Stanley 3-0 in August 2023.
- Following their win over MK Dons, Accrington Stanley will be looking to win consecutive home league games for just the second time this season, and first since October.
