Report by SJG

FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR

NEWPORT COUNTY vs WIGAN ATHLETIC

10^th November 1978

A LONG JOURNEY HOME AFTER A POINTLESS EVENING FOR WIGAN.

Wigan travelled down to Somerton Park with high hopes of another Friday night victory. The home side was undergoing something of an injury crisis and had only recorded one win in their eight home games to date.

Wigan were a pale shadow of the team that had gone on the recent unbeaten run, the passing moves lacked their usual crispness and it was Newport who dominated the ball without really threatening the Latics goal.

It was something of a surprise then, when on 44 minutes Newport grabbed the lead. Houghton was caught in possession on the halfway line by Byrne who sprinted forward before crossing to Woods whose flicked header fell neatly for GODDARD and he fired home.

Half Time; Newport County 0-0 Wigan Athletic.

Maybe the midweek friendly contributed to Wigans first half lethargy but Wigan woke up after the interval as they finally got to grips with the hard pitch and the rather sub-standard floodlighting.  The overall play still was far below the standard of recent weeks but finally the Newport defences were being stretched and when HOUGHTON latched onto a rushed clearance to fire home his first League goal it seemed that a point would be the least Wigan would make the long trip home with.

Brownbill came on to replace a limping Ian Purdie and Latics looked stronger but Newport rallied and began to offer some attacking threat of their own as Woods struck a dipping shot that Brown did well to palm around his post for a corner kick. In the last quarter both sides pushed for a winning goal, but it never really looked likely and it was almost inevitable that the goal, when it arrived, arose from a defensive blunder.

Hinnigan gave the ball away as he tried to clear and a cross was quickly swung into the Wigan area by Walden where Goddard headed back into the path of VAUGHAN who was unmarked and finished with relative ease from close-range.

Full Time; Newport County 2-1 Wigan Athletic.

Scorers; Goddard (44), Vaughan (88); Houghton (73);

Attendance; 4,142

Team; WIGAN (4-4-2)—Brown; Smart, Fretwell, Ward, Hinnigan; Corrigan, Wright, Gore, Purdie; Houghton, Moore; Sub; Brownbill (for Purdie);

NEWPORT COUNTY (4-4-2) —Plumley; Walden, Byrne, Davies, Bruton; Warriner, Lowndes, Brown, Vaughan; Goddard, Woods; Sub not used; Jones.

Referee; Mr A. Hamill (Wolverhampton).

The defeat brought to an end Wigan’s recent run and left Latics four points adrift of Portsmouth who occupied the final promotion slot.