First venture over the water and into ‘Europe ‘ for the Dolphins this season and a skeletal side is all that could be mustered for the away at Newport. With Simon Browne now at Hamworthy beginning his managerial career, we lost another player this week making three gone from the seasons start to add to the walking wounded and although Andy Culliford had finally signed for us mid week, he couldn’t rearrange his shifts at work to make the trip on such short notice.
Thankfully, Luke Whitley and Stu Brown were back from injury, but Pete Smith was unavailable, so we only named Trefor and Steve Smith along with Gavin Reeves on the bench. Then, Lamin looked iffy before the start, but Dick worked on what appeared to be a groin strain and he made the kick-off and held on to the end in his inimitable style, but he looked to be in some discomfort on occasion.
Poole needed to get a quick score in to settle the nerves after enduring Wimborne’s rampage on Tuesday and Stuart Brown provided the perfect tonic with just eight minutes gone. Carl Preston was hauled over on the edge of the home area and Hubbard floated in a free kick to the six yard area. A mass of bodies rose and a head connected to send the ball across the goal for Brown to head home at the near post. Poole had pressed from the start and won an early corner that produced two point blank saves from Streeter in the home goal and they kept at it and had their quick reward. Poole lead 1-0.
Going a goal down revived the home side and they fought back with quick breaks and got forward in numbers and at times Poole’s back line looked stretched trying to play on the edge of their own area and eventually they got caught out. Darren Powell’s looping shot from deep caught Ackerman off his line as he came out to check the threat from the Newport forward breaking the offside trap who looked a cert for the intended target and the home side were level. Just moments before, Preston had fired a rocket that curled in the top corner before Streeter’s huge frame flew across the goal to touch it over. This theme continued for the remainder of the half but neither keeper was seriously troubled until the break, the final ball from both side being inaccurate and of poor quality. The best chance to increase the scoreline fell to Matt Evans who fired over from 25 yards on 27 minutes after turning Lamin. Newport lost Charlie Smeeton to injury in the fortieth minute but John Simpkins looked an able replacement when on as a sub.
Half-time 1-1
The second half remained lively and again both sides were quick on the break but Poole’s dominance was beginning to wane, giving away possession far too cheaply and too often, but again the quality finish was missing at both ends. Newport managed to grab the lead on 49 minutes, a tame shot from 25 yards out took a deflection and bobbled over the line before Ackerman could re adjust to reach it. It was soft goal again to give away but as some of the finishing was woeful, it was almost inevitable that this was more likely to be the manner of it’s scoring when a goal came .
Again a goal stirred a revival, this time from the visitors. Poole flooded forward once more and created numerous half chances but the final shots when they came were woeful and they were leaving even bigger gaps at the back. On 51 minutes. Taffy missed a sitter when one on one with Streeter, his chip going wide from 10 yards, and on 56 minutes, Cook did all the hard work splitting two defenders only to have Streeter save his shot easily. But had he looked up, Brown was unmarked alongside him with the empty half of the goal to aim at. Newport countered immediately from a throw-in, Powell spinning to fire from 20 yards and curled painfully away from the top corner of the goal with Ackerman unable to stretch far enough to reach it. Newport had the ball in the net again on 63 minutes but the flag on the far side had gone up way before for offside.
Trefor and Steve Smith joined the fray with around 25 minutes left, Kevin Gill and Captain Carl giving way which in the latter’s case left just Ross Lloyd as Poole’s back line while the rest went looking to salvage a point. But they were living dangerously and Tom Scovell’s shot on 71 minutes went very close after a quick break. On 78 minutes, Hubbard’s freekick crashed off the Newport wall, rebounding to Stu Brown out wide on the right. He beat his man on the way to goal but his shot was sent into the side netting by Streeter’s fingertips for a corner. As the corner floated in and everyone jumped, the ball evaded everyone and curled out of play. Referee Chris Miles blew his whistle and everyone expected a goal kick, But the ref was pointing at the penalty spot! - adjudging Sreeter to have impeded Steve Smith in front of goal apparently. The big keeper protested fervently but to no avail and Hubbard converted from the spot to pull Poole level at 2-2.
Both sides went looking for the win and had chances at either end before the final whistle but the game didn’t have barely a good strike in it all day despite being a lively and entertaining match. Poole were lucky to get the point in the end though and glad of it. Tommy needs to find some more players or get them back from injury soon or our season is in danger of coming apart real quick. The early warning signs are already evident.
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