Willen Road has over the years been a graveyard of a ground for Sporting, with two draws being the best we’ve had to show and Ben only recently getting out of therapy for the ‘last kick of the game’ loss we suffered on our previous visit. Could today finally be Sporting’s day?

The early signs were certainly good. Within 2 minutes Sporting had the lead when Josh Green’s free kick from the left hand side of the pitch looped over the Newport keeper and into the net. 1-0 Sporting.

Newport came back into it and Frank was called into action with a couple of smart stops from Newport’s ever dangerous number 3.

The game developed into a relatively even contest but Sporting did look like they could get in behind the Newport back line. That happened midway through the half when a nice move down the Sporting left ended with a through ball for Fin, who cut inside his man and curled the ball beautifully into the top right corner of the net. 2-0 Sporting.

Sporting were relatively comfortable in the run up to halftime. A number of half chances came along, with best falling to Charlie, who’s early effort when through on goal was well saved by the Newport keeper.

2-0 Sporting at halftime.

An interesting halftime team talk, with groundsmen working loudly on the cricket strip right behind us making it hard for the boys to focus. However, something worked, as before Heather Goble (aka Lady in Pink) could even finish her halftime bovril, Sporting had doubled their lead.

Firstly Fin pounced on an error in the Newport defence and neatly slotted home to make it 3-0. Then moments later Fin completed his hatrick and made it 4-0 with another tidy finish following a lovely ball in from Michael.

At this point Sporting were cruising and should have added more goals. In particular Fin came close again, while Michael saw his free kick well saved by the Newport keeper.

As the half wore on however Sporting were guilty of losing focus and allowed Newport to come back at them. After a few warning signs Newport grabbed a goal back following a goalmouth scramble to make it 4-1.

Sporting had to dig in and compose themselves for a few minutes before calming everything down with a fifth goal of their own. Good play from Josh Green down the right wing saw him get to the byline and cut the ball back for Ollie Mitchell in the box. Ollie did very well to steer a controlled first time effort into the back of the net, 5-1 Sporting.

Sporting were again guilty of switching off in the last 10 minutes, allowing Newport to grab another goal back to make it 5-2, which is how the game finished.

Well done to all the boys for getting a deserved win today, with special mention to the Gartec Player of the Match, which was hatrick hero Fin.

Overall a great first week back - plenty of points on the board, plenty of goals scored and plenty of appreciation from the referees towards our lads, which this season they show by holding up a yellow card - must be a new FA initiative?!