Amond wins it late for table-topping County

Newport County beat Colchester United 2-1 at Rodney Parade, with Padraig Amond nodding home the winner on the 90 minute mark.

It was only one minute after Jevani Brown levelled for the visitors, with Newport taking the lead via a Scott Twine wonder-strike early in the second half.

Colchester made two changes from their 2-1 win over Harrogate last time out, with Kwame Poku and Jevani Brown dropping out for former Swindon striker Luke Norris and wide midfielder Courtney Senior.

Newport made only one change, with last weeks’ hero Saikou Janneh dropping out of the squad, replaced in the starting eleven by Padraig Amond.

The hosts enjoyed a domineering first-half, recording 59% possession, and firing 12 shots, forcing two quality stops from experienced ‘keeper Dean Gerken.

The first was an effort by Tristan Abrahams, who curled from a tight angle but Gerken dealt with it well.

The other was from Swindon loanee Scott Twine, who struck a vicious piledriver which was tipped heroically onto the bar by the former Ipswich stopper.

Colchester, despite their lack of creativity, did show excellent solidity. Tommy Smith and Tom Eastman at the back were domineering on the most part over Newport’s attackers.

Newport continued to press in the second period, and would get their just reward. After a quick free-kick, Scott Twine cut inside and unleashed a firecracker into Gerken’s top-left hand corner.

It’s Twine’s fourth in a Newport shirt and third in League Two, with three of them coming from outside the box.

Colchester began to improve with the introduction of teenage prodigy Kwame Poku, who injected an energy not seen from the U’s in the previous hour. He forced a save from Nick Townsend minutes later.

It became clear that the U’s gameplan was to stay in the game until the latter stages and push for an equaliser or winner – but despite the constant Colchester pressure, Newport’s defensive unit withstood any real efforts on Nick Townsend’s goal in the games twilight – but suffered one crucial blow which allowed Colchester back in it.

A shot fumbled by Townsend fell to Jevani Brown, and the substitute tucked home for what seemed like the result defining moment. It was the first goal Newport had conceded in 388 minutes – Paul Mullin’s for Cambridge in Newport’s 2-1 defeat.

But as the clock ticked past 90, Dolan swung in a corner, and it was prodded home by fan favourite Padraig Amond to regain Newport’s lead and keep them on top of the Sky Bet League Two table.

Colchester drop to 11th after coming so close to a valuable point, but the better team won on the day. They host Stevenage next weekend, with Newport facing newly promoted Harrogate.

Newport: Townsend; Haynes, Cooper, Dolan, Demetriou, Shephard; Labadie, Twine, Sheehan; Abrahams, Amond

Subs: King, Baker, Willmott, Webb, Bennett, Proctor, Ellison

Colchester: Gerken; Welch-Hayes, Eastman, Smith, Bramall; Pell; Harriott, Stevenson, Chilvers, Senior; Norris

Subs: George, Sowunmi, Brown, Scarlett, Poku, Gambin, Bohui

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