Newport County face Walsall in front of the Sky Sports cameras at Rodney Parade on Monday afternoon in their penultimate home game of the 2024- 25 season (12.30pm).
The Exiles registered their first point on the road since February with a 0-0 draw at MK Dons on Good Friday, while title-chasing Walsall extended their unfortunate winless record to 11 games with a 2-2 draw at home to Harrogate Town.
Opposition Form
Walsall have experienced a very mixed 2024/25 campaign. The Saddlers made a blinding start to the season, including a run of nine consecutive league wins either side of the turn of the year, building a significant lead at the top of the League Two table in the process.
However, the West Midlanders have won just three of their last 20 matches in all competitions and haven’t tasted victory in their last eleven games. Mat Sadler’s team have consequently slipped out of the automatic promotion spots, yet remain within three points of 1st place with three games remaining.
Now in a shootout with Bradford City, Doncaster Rovers and Port Vale for the three promotion spots to League One, Walsall will arrive in south Wales looking for their first away win since February.
The main catalyst of their superb form in the first half of the season was Stoke City loanee, Nathan Lowe. The striker scored 18 goals across 30 games in all competitions before being recalled by his parent club in January. Despite not having pulled on a Walsall shirt in over three months, he ranks joint-fourth in the league’s scoring charts and has been nominated for both League Two ‘Player of the Season’ and ‘Young Player of the Season’.
Among the players to have picked up the goalscoring mantle since Lowe’s departure is ex-Newport striker Jamille Matt, who has netted 12 times in the league this season. Taylor Allen also sits on double figures with ten goals and has contributed seven assists. Connor Barrett is Walsall’s main supplier of goals, with eight assists of his own.
Head-to-Head
Newport and Walsall met for the first time nearly 100 years ago. The Exiles defeated the Sadlers 0-3 in front of just over 11,000 spectators at their old Fellows Park ground in a 1927/28 Division Three South fixture.
The two clubs have met 72 times since then across league and cup, with County holding a slender advantage in the overall head-to-head record against their West Midlands counterparts. The Exiles can boast 28 wins against Walsall, who have won the fixture 25 times themselves.
The two clubs met regularly in the first half of the 20th century but did not cross paths for 30 years between 1987 and 2017, when they met at Rodney Parade in the FA Cup. Since that game, a 2-1 win for County, they have faced each other exclusively in League Two.
Of the eleven league clashes this century, County have won three times compared to Walsall’s two victories. The fixture has produced a draw in the six other meetings.
This season’s return fixture resulted in a 2-0 win for Walsall at the Bescot Stadium in December thanks to a second-half Nathan Lowe brace.
Shared Shirts
A pivotal player in the recent history of both Newport County and Walsall is Jamille Matt. The 35-year-old has been instrumental to the Sadlers’ promotion efforts, starting 36 of his 39 League Two appearances this season, scoring 12 goals. The striker has missed just three games this campaign and made his 100th appearance for the club against Harrogate on Friday.
Matt joined Newport on a free transfer from Blackpool in the summer of 2018 and went on to play 97 times for the club, scoring 26 goals. He was a key part of County’s 2018-19 FA Cup run, scoring the opening goal of the famous 2-1 win against Leicester City in the third round at Rodney Parade.
After two years with County, he joined Forest Green Rovers and played over 100 times for the Gloucestershire outfit across two-and-a-half seasons, contributing 39 goals. He joined Walsall in January 2023 and has been a mainstay in their side ever since.
On the other side of the team sheet, James Clarke spent two seasons at the Bescot Stadium before joining County in 2021. The Exiles’ captain made 65 appearances for Walsall before making the switch to Rodney Parade at the beginning of the 2021/22 season. He has gone on to play over 120 times for the Amber Army and is due to lead them out against his former side on Monday.
Memorable Encounters
This fixture often produces memorable games, with two 3-3 draws in the last three years. Newport’s last trip to the Bescot Stadium before this season’s return fixture will remain in the memory of the members of the Amber Army who made the trip in February last year.
Three first half goals from Bryn Morris, Will Evans and Harry Charsley sealed a 0-3 win on the road against a Walsall side who finished the game with ten men after Owen Evans’ late dismissal.
Morris gave Graham Coughlan’s side the lead inside five minutes with a deflected effort from outside the area before Evans doubled the advantage after a quarter of an hour, finding the far top corner from a difficult angle.
Charsley made it 0-3 before half-time with a fantastic looping header after James Clarke had flicked on Aaron Lewis’ dangerous long throw.
The hosts finished the game with ten men after goalkeeper Evans handled well outside his area while trying to cut out a through-ball to Offrande Zanzala.
The impressive away win was Newport’s fourth-consecutive League Two victory, amid a run of seven league matches without defeat.
Key Facts
In the last five editions of this fixture at Rodney Parade, the two teams share an equal record, holding a win each and having played out three draws.
Walsall have the fifth-best away record in League Two this season, having won eight of their 21 games away from home (seven draws, six losses).
Walsall have scored more goals than any other team so far in League Two this season (74), while Newport have conceded more goals than anyone else (70).
