League 2
Tuesday 17th March 2026
Kick Off 19.30 On Time!
Newport County 0 Bromley 1, attendance 3,530
88’ 0-1 Whitely
@ Rodney Parade
Rodney Road
Newport
NP19 0UU
£27 Admission
£3 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.
When I last saw Newport County host a Football League game, back in April 1988, they were at their former Somerton Park ground, now under housing. They were doomed to relegation by then and lost 1-3 to Wolverhampton Wanderers, in a game that clinched promotion for the visitors, on their way to the title and it also saw two goals for their striker Steve Bull, the second of which was his 50th goal of the season. I did see Newport play at Somerton Park again before it was bulldozed, when they were now known as Newport A.F.C. losing 0-1 to Stroud in a Southern League Midland Division match in September 1990. I also saw them play a home game at Gloucester City in 1993 (a 1-3 loss to Rushden & Diamonds), while they were in exile and again the following September, in a 4-1 win versus Melksham Town in an F.A. Cup 1st Qualifying Round match played at Newport Stadium. By the next time I saw them, in October 2012, they’d reverted to the name of Newport County and were now playing here at Rodney Parade, home of the town’s rugby club. They beat Ebbsfleet United 1-0 in the National League that night, but today was a chance to tick them off as a ‘92 Club’ visit.
The ground hasn’t changed in the intervening fourteen years. Only the two sides are in use for games, unless there’s a big cup tie which necessitates using the full capacity. Last time here I was on the terrace on the East Stand side, but tonight I opted for the other side, where the West Stand seats run the length of the pitch. I’d parked on this side of the ground, less than ten minutes walk away, where there were no parking restrictions once you cleared the immediate vicinity of the stadium and was also the right side for the ticket office.
As with my last Football League visit, Newport are in danger of dropping back into non-League. They’ve picked up a few points though recently and came into this in 21st place (4th bottom, with two relegated) in the table, sitting on 31 points with nine to play, including tonight. Below them were Crawley Town 30 points, Barrow 29 points (with a game in hand) and Harrogate Town on 27 points. Bromley, on the other hand, were top and unbeaten in 19 games coming into this, although they were missing top scorer Michael Cheek due to injury. Newport matched them well and if they had someone up front who could actually score a goal or two, might have even won it, as they did have the visitors pinned in their own half for long periods.
Bromley came nearest to breaking the deadlock in a goalless first half, with a header from a diagonal free kick tipped round the post. Newport hit the post on the hour mark, but never really looked like scoring. Having looked awful for most of the game, Bromley really stepped things up late on. They had a header from a corner cleared off the line with fourteen minutes left and a couple of minutes later saw a near post header go narrowly over the crossbar. As we entered the dying minutes, ex Newport player Corey Whitely shot low into the far corner to win it for Bromley. It was the first time there had been any noise coming from the 162 fans in the away section, situated in the far end block of my stand.
The win keeps Bromley top of the table, five points clear of second placed Milton Keynes Dons and nine clear of Notts County, just outside the automatic promotion places. Newport now drop to 22nd, leapfrogged by Crawley, both on 31 points and only separated only by goal difference. Harrogate Town climbed off the bottom with a win at fifth bottom Tranmere Rovers and are now on 30 points. Barrow are now bottom, a point adrift, but with a game in hand on all the others. Newport certainly have it in their own hands to avoid the drop. They’ve still to host Crawley Town and Harrogate Town, before a potentially huge match on the final day of the season, when they make the trip to Barrow!
The journey to Gwent was trouble free. Coming back saw a closure of the M4 back into England, meaning diverting onto the M48 instead, where there was also a closure, but at least it only meant going down the slip road to immediately rejoin at the same junction, followed by the M25 being down to one lane from J12-J9, but still home for midnight.
