Saturday 15th March 2025
Venue: M.A. Hart Stadium
Attendance: 154
Match sponsored by OvenU Poole and Parents of U11s Highcliffe Hawks Football Team
New Milton Town suffered their first home defeat since August 31st, 2024, in a game of two distinct halves of football. The away side led 3-0 at the break, but despite a spirited second-half fightback, the Brickmakers eventually finished the game empty-handed.
Matt Maybury spoke to Ailani Verrall after the game.
"We were absolutely miles off it. First half, miles and miles. I mean you have to give credit to Newport, they capitalised and they were superb first half but we were a joke. I have not seen us perform like that for a long time. It has probably been coming for a few weeks that sort of result, but then you saw what they can do in the second half.
It's really frustrating, a disappointing day. Newport ultimately deserved it."
Midfielder Jack Broad also spoke to Ailani afterwards.
"Slow start, and the boy have said it, it has been coming for weeks."I think we've gotten too complacent sat at the top. We need to regroup, look at eachother, go back to basics and just stick with eachother. With the squad depth we've got we should be putting the results away."
Despite having their chances, the home side had a first half to forget. Newport took the lead inside the first three minutes, with Jai Nash rounding debutant goalkeeper Martin Shearing before taking his time to put the ball into the net.
From that point, it was one-way traffic in terms of ball possession, with Harry McGrath shooting wide after dribbling from the left wing to the right-hand side, Barney Stone missing the target with a looping effort, and Elliott Pearce-Eavis volleying wide of the far post after the ball fell to him from a corner kick.
It would then be a corner kick that doubled Newport's lead on 38 minutes. Joe Butcher's delivery on top of goalkeeper Shearing saw the ball fail to be cleared, allowing Jai Nash to help the ball over the line. It was 3-0 just minutes later, with Kai Grace sliding the ball across the goal for Luca Weeks to sidefoot into the net.
Matt Maybury made three changes following the break, with Jack Kinge-Phillips, Noel McCarthy-Gardiner, and Dan Bartlett all coming on. Each of them, in their own way, made a mark on the game: Kinge-Phillips with his relentless running and tenacity, Bartlett with his link-up play and delivery, and McCarthy-Gardiner, who looked like a man possessed to make an impression and change the outcome.
Newport's only chance of note came early on in the second period with a penalty shout that the referee turned away. From then on it was a question of whether the Brickmakers could salvage any points from the game.
Barney Stone reduced Newport's three-goal lead on 53 minutes with a tidy right-foot finish into the bottom corner from just inside the box before Noel McCarthy-Gardiner charged into the area and unleashed a bullet half-volley into the top corner just five minutes later.
It was game on at the M.A. Hart Stadium, and the home fans could feel it.
A corner kick saw Elliott Pearce-Eavis sidefoot the ball against the crossbar from a tight angle with a crowd of players along the goal line. Brad Snelling headed over from close range with the ball fired into the area with too much pace, and he then headed wide with just a few minutes remaining from Dan Bartlett's whipped free-kick.
It was deep into stoppage time that New Milton's luck for the day showed.
The ball fell to Noel McCarthy-Gardiner, thirty yards from goal, who unleashed a thunderbolt of a strike towards the Newport goal. The silence was deafening as the ball flew through the air before striking the angle of the crossbar and post and travelling across the goal line and out of danger. The referee's whistle to end the game came seconds later.
Other results at the top of the Wessex League Division One meant the table would stay unchanged as far as the promotion race is concerned, although many will have viewed it as a missed opportunity. New Milton face a rejuvenated Fawley AFC at home next.
New Milton Town: Martin Shearing, Elliott Pearce-Eavis, Jack Foden, Billy Maybury, Cam Smith, Jack Broad, Toby Colmer, Barney Stone, Luca Lane, Harry McGrath, Brad Snelling
Substitutes Used: Jack Kinge-Phillips, Noel McCarthy-Gardiner, Dan Bartlett
Goals: Stone 53, McCarthy-Gardiner 58
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