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Newport County

Ground: Rodney Parade

Visits: 1

Date: 19th April 2019

Match: Newport County - Bury  3-1  (League 2)

Attendance: 4 433

My Easter trip to the UK in 2018 was cancelled due to the death of my mother. I was supposed to start that trip with Newport v Coventry. As I planned this year´s trip I once again planned a visit to Newport on Good Friday. In glorious weather I left home on Thursday afternoon and from Copenhagen airport I then had a flight to Birmingham. I would be based in Birmingham for the entire trip and once at my hotel, next to New Street station, I was really looking forward to a few days of football. As was the case when I went to Cardiff on New Year´s Eve the Severn tunnel was closed for rail works. That meant I had to go by train to Chepstow where I changed to a bus replacement service. It was heavy traffic on the motorway but at 11.40 I was finally at Newport station. Once there I was greeted by my friends Stefan and Jocke from Umeå. They were going to Edinburgh after the match but couldn´t find any storage lockers for their big bags. We decided to go to Rodney Parade, the home of Newport County, and try there. The club was very welcoming and as I picked up the tickets my friends were allowed to leave their bags in the club shop, well done Newport County! Once my friends´ bags had been stored in the club shop the three of us headed back, across the river Usk, to the city centre. The weather was glorious and it felt more like southern Europe than southern Wales. We enjoyed a nice dinner before relaxing in the sunshine with a cup of coffee.

Newport County were founded in 1912 and were founder members of the Football League third division in 1920. They played at Somerton Park, a ground also used for greyhound racing, and the highlight for the club was in 1980/81 when they reached the quarter-finals of the Cup winner’s cup. In 1988 the Newport were relegated from the Football League. The following year the club went out of business and had to start all over in the Hellenic League. In 2013 Newport County won the Conference play-off final and thereby ended their 24-year absence from the Football League. In 2012 the club moved to Rodney Parade (capacity 7,800), a ground owned by the Welsh Rugby Union. Rodney Parade is also the home venue for two rugby clubs and sometimes the playing surface has suffered. Opened in 1877 it is actually the second oldest ground in the Football League. Our seats were in row J of the Bisley Stand. We had a great view of the pitch but sitting directly in the sun it was quite hot. Bury are having financial problems at the moment but are still 2nd in the table- Newport are chasing the last play-off spot and they got the perfect start, 1-0 after five minutes. Eight minutes later Bury equalized but at half-time Newport were 2-1 up. We spend half-time in the interior of the stand where it was possible to cool down a bit. The second half was quite poor to be honest but 15 minutes from the end Newport scored a great goal to win 3-1. Newport County haven´t played in the third tier of English football since 1987 but they now have the chance to do that again.

At 17.45 I left Newport by bus and after changing to a delayed train at Bristol Parkway I was back in Birmingham around 20.00. A nice day out for me in southern Wales as I visited ground 89 of the current 92.

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River Usk

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River Usk

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Statue of the boxer David "Bomber" Pearce

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Stadium map

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Rear of the Hazell Stand

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A nice day in Newport!

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Entrance to the Bisley Stand

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South End

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Hazell Stand

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North End

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North End

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Flags

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Bisley Stand

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Bisley Stand

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Players and officials entering

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Kick-off

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Bury fans

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View of play

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1-0

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Hazell Stand

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Newport fans

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Newport fans

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View of play

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A warm day!

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Pano

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Pano