Newport County have sights on cementing promotion play-offs as they travel to Walsall

Newport County have a trip to the West Midlands on Wednesday evening as they look to defeat Walsall in the football league for the first time since 1984. The Saddlers have won five and drawn four of their previous 9 league encounters with the Exiles.

Wednesday evening features two sides that are currently winless in their previous three League Two games.

The hosts come into the midweek match after a 1-1 draw away to Stevenage. It was Brian Dutton’s first point for the Saddlers since taking over as Head Coach. A freakish finish from Caolan Lavery within the first minute was enough to earn an important point against the Boro.

Lavery crafted the opener on his own. The Northern Irish number 9 hunted down Stevenage number one Jamie Cumming before launching himself into a challenge on the goalkeeper. He was rewarded with his relentless press, with the ball ricocheting off of his right boot into the top left stanchion.

On the contrary, visitors Newport come into the encounter on the back of a 2-0 defeat at home to Forest Green Rovers. Josh Davison’s opener late on in the first half was then doubled 20 minutes after the break. Jamille Matt scored from the spot to secure three crucial points for the visitors.

Both sides have played 28 games, with seven points differentiating the pairing.

However, the underlying numbers of both teams are scarily similar. The Saddlers have scored 35 times this campaign compared to Newport’s 37.

In addition, Walsall have hit the target a total of 119 times in comparison to the Ironsides’ 114. They’ve won a similar amount of duels (1604 and 1500) with a success rate around the region of 50% for both.

The hosts are the more disciplined of the two, having collected one red card compared to Newport’s four.

The Saddlers sit comfortably in mid-table on 37 points whilst Newport have their sights on cementing a spot in the promotion play-off places, despite picking up one point in their previous three games. The Ironsides are just eight points from top of the table Cambridge United.

Walsall’s lack of clean sheets this season (3) is a worrying factor for Dutton, as well as an average 1.3 goals conceded per 90. The home side’s only win across their last nine matches in League Two came against Port Vale in January. They have conceded in each of their last 17 league games.

Newport will look to relish the opportunity against a fragile Walsall outfit however they’ve three times in the past 450 minutes of football.

The most recent head-to-head results have both ended in draws. Newport hosted the Saddlers at the back end of November, with the result ending 1-1 in the reverse fixture. Elijah Adebayo, who has since commuted from the West Midlands to Luton Town, made the breakthrough after 21 minutes but Scott Twine levelled two minutes later at the Newport Stadium.

The hosts will go into Wednesday evening’s game with supreme confidence. The last time Walsall lost at home against Newport County in the Football League was May 1980. Newport County have not scored in their last three visits to Walsall in the Football League.

Ben Haywood will be providing live coverage at the Banks’s Stadium as the Saddlers host the Ironsides in a must win fixture for both teams.

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