Floodlights extinguished for Town

After soaking up early pressure Newark gained early advantage when Will Fry cut inside from the right and fired in a hard low shot which took a zip off the saturated turf, Wajs couldn’t hold the ball and it squirmed from his grasp into the net.
The home side pushed hard against a well drilled visitors defence with Newark looking dangerous on the break. Lynam latched onto a through ball from Poole and poked it beyond Craig Rhodes, but not hard enough to take it over the line. On 17 minutes Poole raced clear but Rhodes saved with his legs. Then came a Newark break and Wajs made up for his earlier error by finger tipping George Rees-Jones’ stunning drive round the post.
Newark missed a great chance to double their lead when Chris Self burst clear of a home defence caught too far upfield, squaring the ball for Rees-Jones who fired wastefully over the bar.
Lynam appeared to miss a sitter for Clay Cross, but in the teeming rain it just wasn’t easy to control the ball, and minutes later he put in a low shot with the outside of his right foot which Rhodes saved with his legs.
Nathan Jessop exchanged passes with Poole but finished with a weak shot before the home side did get the ball into the net off-side prevailed.
Three minutes before the break Newark attacked again and Self crossed from the right for Arron Martin to tap in from two yards, but somehow he couldn’t get behind the ball as it zipped across goal.
Clay Cross kept up the pressure in the second half and Lynam put Burrow in but his fierce shot was deflected for a corner. The leveller came moments before the hour when Lynam headed the ball down and POOLE crashed home an unstoppable drive from ten yards.
The goal seemed to galvanise Newark though and Wajs saved Self’s shot with his legs for a corner. It was from another corner on 68 minutes that the visitors went back into the lead. The home defence failed to clear and ALEX HALES drove home the loose ball from the edge of the penalty area. Two minutes later Sam Wilford put Self in to score but off-side prevailed.
Newark’s lead lasted but four minutes this time as Poole broke down the right and his inch perfect cross was tapped in at the back stick by ANT LYNAM.
Ryan Walters entry into the game had put pep into Clay Cross and his late hat-trick changed the game as the visitors over-worked defence began to tire. WALTERS first effort came on the break as Newark’s defence appealed for off-side.
Rhodes made a brilliant save from Bates’ shot before WALTERS made the game safe for the home side with three minutes remaining, Danny Purves losing his footing on the saturated turf allowing the scorer to break free and round Rhodes. And just to put icing on the cake, four minutes into stoppage time, Lynam’s cross set up WALTERS, unmarked in the middle, for his hat-trick.

Report Courtesy of Stan Wilton