Newport County 1, Luton Town 1
Newport County, reduced to 10 players by Mark O’Brien’s dismissal, produced a gutsy performance against Luton Town at Rodney Parade.
The Hatters are pressing hard for promotion, but County came from a goal down to earn a point thanks to a performance full of hunger, spirit and desire.
It was an entertaining match on the horrible, sand-covered playing surface and Newport were good value for a point, but they will feel frustrated after failing to win their game in hand.
County now turn to a tough test against third-placed Portsmouth away on Saturday.
Newport were rocked when they fell a goal behind after five minutes. Home defender Sid Nelson fouled Luton top scorer Danny Hylton, who fired the resulting penalty home for his 24th goal of the season.
He has netted nine times in Luton’s last 11 fixtures, but was taken off at half-time after taking a blow to his head before the break.
Remarkably it was the 19th penalty given away by County this season – and two of those were at Luton earlier this season when the same referee, Charles Breakspear, was in charge.
Newport produced a spirited reaction to that goal and equalised when Sean Rigg fired home from a free-kick with a left-foot strike into the top corner.
Both teams have Welsh managers with Newport-born Mike Flynn in charge of County, Nathan Jones from the Rhondda for Luton. Former Cardiff City manager Lennie Lawrence, Newport’s newly-appointed consultant, watched from the stand.
County set up with three centre-backs – Sid Nelson, Darren Jones and Mark O’Brien – with defender Scott Bennett moved forward to take up a midfield role alongside Joss Labadie.
Ryan Bird and Alex Samuel, a loan signing from Swansea City, linked up in attack.
Manager Flynn changed the system after 56 minutes and switched to a flat back four when Tom Owen-Evans went on for Nelson and operated just behind the front two.
Luton started the match in fifth place and badly needed a win to maintain their promotion push having earned only one win from their previous seven fixtures.
County are battling to avoid relegation and simply had to win this game to keep realistic hopes of survival alive.
Owen-Evans went close with a strong run and powerful shot towards the top left-hand corner which was well saved by goalkeeper Matt Macey, who was just able to push the ball away for a corner.
The game turned in Luton’s favour in the space of a minute.
Labadie went down inside the Luton penalty, but was booked for diving, and then County had O’Brown sent off for a second booking after 81 minutes.
Newport, though, stayed positive and set up 4-3-2, sending on substitute Marlon Jackson for Bird and throwing themselves forward. Jackson went close with two shots in quick succession which flew just wide and then goalkeeper Macey had to produce a smart save.
Newport were awarded a free-kick during four minutes injury time, but Jones smashed his shot straight into the defensive wall. Luton broke quickly and almost grabbed a winner from Ollie Palmer’s header, but goalkeeper Joe Day made a superb save on the line.
The draw didn’t really suit either team and County are still six points from safety with eight fixtures left this season.
Newport County: Day, Nelson (Owen-Evans 56), Jones, O’Brien, Pipe, Bennett, Labadie, Butler, Rigg, Bird (Jackson), Samuel. Subs not used: Barnum-Bobb, Jackson, Demetriou, Bittner, Williams, Gordon.
Luton Town: Macey, O’Donnell, Mullins (Lee 67), Cuthbert, Rea, Sheehan, Cook (Marriott 77), Ruddock, Vassell, Hylton (Justin 46), Palmer. Subs not used: Moore, Smith, D’Ath, Famewo.
Referee: Charles Breakspear.
Attendance: 2,304.