Once again there were wholesale changes to the defence, none of the four who played at Clay Cross being in the starting line-up. The subs bench was light on numbers with Jay Westwood accompanied by Tony Joynes, who was relieved to be able to stay there for 90 minutes. Jordan Thomas almost set the ball rolling on 6 minutes as he jinked past three defenders but put the ball too near the keeper as he looked for a finish. The opening stages were all Town, with Askern left chasing shadows as Newark put together a succession of quick passing moves. The Blues came within inches of taking a 14th minute lead after Reece Self was flattened by Slew. Alex Hales struck the free kick over the defensive wall but saw it rebound off the crossbar and hacked to safety. Sam Wilford and Martin then combined well down the right, Martin’s swerving shot being held with difficulty by Jones in the Askern goal. The home side’s first attempt on goal came on 22 minutes, a poor clearance falling to Byron whose shot towards an empty net went just past the far post. Seconds later a superb saving tackle by man of the match Sam Gregory stopped Shaun Mundy in his tracks as he pulled the trigger. Chris Dobbie then saw his effort deflected for a corner before the deserved goal came on 29th minutes, Self and Thomas playing a slick one-two before Self, who had an excellent first half, thumped a 20 yarder past Jones. It could have been two a couple of minutes later as Martin, who had repeatedly got behind Askern’s defence, did so once more, his cross being miscued by Wilford to Dobbie who hit the ball just wide of the post. The rest of the half belonged to Newark, who dominated play but just couldn’t translate it into the second goal which would have been just reward for some sparkling play.
The home side had the first chance of the second half, Gregory again pulling off a well-timed tackle as Shaun Mundy threatened, Craig Rhodes turning the loose ball for a corner. A spell of concerted pressure in the Askern penalty area ended with a Wilford shot being charged down, before the game lost a bit of sparkle, Newark still holding the balance of play, but not really testing Askern’s keeper as they had before the break. Westwood replaced Dobbie for the last 20 minutes and contributed some good touches, while Luke Parsons, Hales and Gregory dealt competently with Askern’s sporadic attacks. Martin, Thomas and Swingler all had efforts on goal which brought no reward, but the closest Newark came to a second was in the closing minutes as Askern’s Evans ran the ball inches past his own post under pressure from James Munson. The win brought the home side’s eight match unbeaten run to an end and sets Town up for the first of two important games with title-chasing Westella on Saturday.