Wasteful Newport County slip to 2-1 loss at Salford City

The Exiles were left to rue a controversial offside decision that denied Will Evans an equaliser in the second half at Moor Lane.

All the goals came in the first half with Matty Lund heading in from a corner for Salford before Bryn Morris levelled with his first County goal on the half hour, a crisp strike after good work by Omar Bogle and James Waite.

READ MORE

• Full report from Moor Lane
• Coughlan fumes at offside call

The winner came in the last of six added minutes when Exiles defender Declan Drysdale diverted a wicked cross into his own net.

County pushed for much of the second half but failed to level for the second time, meaning Salford ended their five-game losing streak and retained their record of never having lost to Newport in the league.

Graham Coughlan's side, meanwhile, took two points from five games in September.

Here are some talking points from soggy Salford…

TIGHT: Will Evans, circled, netted from Scot Bennett's flick on but was denied by an offside flag (Image: Screenscrab - EFL)

DENIED BY THE FLAG

County were clear afterwards that they felt the offside call that denied Evans a leveller was wrong.

They have their own analyst videoing from the gantry while the footage that the rest of us get to see shows that it’s tight but the striker looks level from a flick-on by Scot Bennett.

Whether he is onside when Aaron Wildig clips in the free-kick is impossible to tell because Evans goes out of shot on the video when contact is made with the ball.

The evening’s events at Tottenham in the Premier League show that it’s not even certain that VAR could have helped.

The Exiles feel hard done by and that’s in part due to them believing they haven’t got the rub of the green in September.

These things even themselves out, we are told. It never feels that way.

DESPAIR: County conceded in first-half added time at Salford City, to the despair of 'keeper Nick Townsend (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Had County made it 2-2 then they were on top and would have fancied turning one point into three.

Instead, they left with nothing to show for their efforts and this has to go down as a big missed opportunity for a precious win on the road.

Salford headed into the clash on a five-game losing streak but, like Bradford City seven days earlier, got a success to relieve some pressure.

The Ammies should still be a top-half side this season but injuries have hit them hard at the moment and last season’s play-off semi-finalists will face a scrap to make the top seven.

There were spells when they lacked confidence and had County struck at 1-1 then heads could easily have dropped.

The atmosphere was flat until the closing stages – was a crowd of just 2,006 (220 away) down to recent results or should Salford look at changing kick-off times when United, and also City, are playing at 3pm? – and groans would have got louder had the Exiles got their noses in front.

Coughlan’s men are also stretched by injury at the moment but this was still a chance that slipped through their fingers.

DENIED: James Waite has a shot blocked for County at Salford (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

CUTTING EDGE

This trip to the north west of England felt very, very familiar.

Just like Accrington on opening day, it was a grim, rainy day that made you feel sorry for the ball boys and photographers.

Just like Accrington on opening day, County were undone by poor defending.

Just like Accrington on opening day, County failed to take their chances.

There were wrong decisions and plenty of instances of poor execution; there were plenty of half-chances and a couple of big ones in a shot count of 15.

Wildig failed to hit the target from promising positions in the first half, Bogle should have pulled the trigger on a couple of occasions and Evans wasted headers when well-placed as County put the squeeze on in the second half.

Morris’ finish was clinical and it took a superb save by Alex Cairns, sticking out his left boot, to deny Bogle a swift second from a tight angle. Evans felt the ball could have been squared but on review it looks a tricky pass to thread through.

At the death Nathan Wood’s driven shot went a yard wide after going through a crowd when a slight touch would have given Cairns no chance, Kiban Rai didn’t get the connection he would have liked from a header in added time (just three minutes, which must be a record for 2023/24 given the directives that they appear to be rowing back on slowly).

Things just haven’t gone for County in recent weeks and they could do with Bogle or Evans finding their purple patches from the end of last season and start of the campaign respectively.

What Coughlan would give for a scrappy goal and a clean sheet against Colchester on Tuesday.

IMPACT: Nathan Wood was called from the bench to try and give County a lift at Salford (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

CHANGES?

Managers would normally tinker with their line-up when facing three games in eight days but County don’t have a glut of options.

Coughlan will probably make one enforced change after Adam Lewis limped off in the first half at Moor Lane with a muscular injury.

One imagines that will lead to a first, and arguably overdue, start for Newcastle loanee Matty Bondswell down the left unless Will Evans is pushed back there.

Rai looked lively off in his cameo on Saturday and deserves at least a longer bench outing while perhaps teenage Bristol City striker Olly Thomas will get an opportunity soon.

However, Coughlan was pretty happy with the display in Salford and won’t panic for the home clash with a Colchester side who upset leaders Notts County in a 5-4 thriller.

County have registered 22 outfield players to the EFL and only 15 of them are available (defenders James Clarke, Matt Baker, Kyle Jameson and Lewis, midfielder Harry Charsley, strikers Seb Palmer-Houlden and Offrande Zanzala are all injured).

Unless there is a shock promotion to the bench for an academy prospect or Baker makes an early return, the Exiles won’t fill their bench on Tuesday.