Newport County 0 Crawley Town 0: Reds earn battling draw in Wales

Crawley Town ended a four-game losing run with a 0-0 draw at Newport County.
Football: League 2

Crawley Town v Stevenage

Pictured is Crawley  Town's Mark Connolly in  action Stevenage's Joel Byrom   in  action.              
 
Crawley Town Football Club, Checkatrade Stadium, Winfield Way, Crawley, West Sussex. 

Picture: Liz Pearce 11/08/2018

LP181071 SUS-181108-190223008Football: League 2

Crawley Town v Stevenage

Pictured is Crawley  Town's Mark Connolly in  action Stevenage's Joel Byrom   in  action.              
 
Crawley Town Football Club, Checkatrade Stadium, Winfield Way, Crawley, West Sussex. 

Picture: Liz Pearce 11/08/2018

LP181071 SUS-181108-190223008
Football: League 2 Crawley Town v Stevenage Pictured is Crawley Town's Mark Connolly in action Stevenage's Joel Byrom in action. Crawley Town Football Club, Checkatrade Stadium, Winfield Way, Crawley, West Sussex. Picture: Liz Pearce 11/08/2018 LP181071 SUS-181108-190223008

Both sides had periods on top and the visitors gave a good defensive performance to keep a clean sheet in the thick of a period of pressure by Newport late in the second half.

Reds head coach Gabriele Cioffi handed a full league debut to former Watford under-21s defender David Sesay who played at right-back while George Francomb moved to central defence.

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Newport had a good chance to score after 16 minutes when a long ball was played to Padraig Amond who lifted the ball off-target.

Reds applied pressure on the hosts’ goal when Mark Connolly headed a corner into the hands of goalkeeper Joe Day.

Then Panutche Camara passed to Dominic Poleon who could not get a shot off before being tackled.

Newport forced a catch from Reds’ ‘keeper Glenn Morris to twice deny Amond.

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Just before half-time Josh Doherty was knocked over in the area but play continued before Amond blasted over the bar.

Connolly emerged for the second half with his head bandaged after a first half clattering.

Reds made a strong start to the second half, with Camara finding Sesay whose cross was deflected behind the goal.

Reece Grego-Cox passed to Poleon in the area who set-up Camara for a mishit shot from the edge of the area.

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Newport missed taking the lead due to poor finishing in the six-yard box by Amond and Jamille Matt.

Reds had a big appeal for a penalty turned down with nine minutes to go when Poleon was brought down in the penalty area.

Crawley survived a late onlaught by Newport and four minutes of added-time to earn Gabriele Cioffi’s first away point since taking charge.

Crawley Town: Morris, Doherty, Payne, McNerney, Connolly, Grego-Cox (Gambin 77) , Poleon, Francomb, Sesay, Bulman (capt), Camara

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Unused subs: Mersin, Nathaniel-George, Maguire, Allarakhia, N’Gala

Newport County: Day, Butler, Franks, Demetriou, Bennett, Forbes (Harris 78), Willmott, Dolan (Bakinson 56), Crofts (O’Brien 51), Amond, Matt

Unused subs: Townsend, Sheehan, Marsh-Brown, Pipe