Newport County return to Sky Bet League Two action tomorrow afternoon when they host Accrington Stanley at Rodney Parade (3pm).
The Exiles will be looking to build on their impressive 3-1 win over a strong Doncaster Rovers side as they face off against Stanley in front of the Amber Army.
Our 3-1 victory saw a number of standout performances which saw Nick Townsend and Courtney Baker-Richardson both included in the division’s Team of the Week.
Pre-Match Thoughts
Speaking ahead of the fixture, Nelson Jardim said: “I expect Accrington Stanley to be a tough team to beat. They probably didn’t start as well as they’d have hoped in the first game, but they showed their quality in the last game against Harrogate Town.
“Winning last Saturday was a huge lift for everyone and it was good for the team and the supporters.
“Those three points have put us on the right track and it’s given us that comfort that I spoke about to help us build our style and keep improving.
Opposition Form
Our opponents have got off to a slow start to the season with one draw and two losses to start the season. The Lancashire club sit in Twentieth place after two games with one point and were knocked out of the EFL cup by fellow League Two side, Tranmere Rovers.
Accrington Stanley have had a busy window bringing in thirteen players and seeing fifteen players depart the club. One of the significant departures being long term club servant, Sean McConville, who made over 445 appearances for the club.
New signing, Tyler Walton, has had a great start to his career in red and is a player to watch as the season progresses. Walton has shown his quality in the first two games of the season delivering a Man of the Match performance in a 3-3 draw to Harrogate Town and even scored on his debut for the club in a 4-1 defeat to Doncaster Rovers.
Head to Head
The Exiles were unfortunately defeated twice by Accrington Stanley in the 2023-24 campaign
However, historically County have had the upper hand in most of their previous encounters against Accrington with five wins and four draws in the last Twelve games against this weekend's opponents.
The most recent win against the reds saw the Exiles scoring a late winner at Rodney Parade as Frank Nouble netted in the dying embers of the match.
Accrington Stanley, who are they?
The Owd’ Reds were 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.
Key Stats
- Newport County lost both of their league meetings with Accrington Stanley last season, which is more defeats than they had in their previous 10 Football League matches against them combined (5 wins, 4 draws, 1 loss).
- Two of Accrington Stanley’s three Football League victories over Newport County have come on the road, with wins of 2-0 in March 2016 and 3-1 last season.
- Newport County's recent 3-1 win against Doncaster Rovers ended a streak of nine consecutive defeats in the EFL.
- Accrington Stanley have managed just one win in their last six league matches (1 draw, 4 losses), a stretch that has seen the Lancashire team concede a total of 18 goals, averaging 3 goals per game.