Town rise against Phoenix

A workmanlike performance at Rotherham saw the Blues gain a comfortable win over Phoenix. For the first time in living memory Newark were able to name an unchanged starting eleven, with just Dom Swingler missing from the 15 players who played against Dinnington, Andy Smith replacing him on the bench.
Sam Wilford had Town’s first chance as he turned in the area and shot over the bar, Tyler Martin then having a shot saved following a long ball from the back. The opening stages were a little disjointed with the breeze, in Newark’s favour, making judging passes a problem. Several long balls forward found the home defence back-pedalling but there were few early scoring chances. Julian Joachim was narrowly wide with a free kick from the edge of the area, while at the other end Marklew‘s header wound up on the roof of the net while Nathan Burrows did well to smother the ball after an underhit back pass put West in with a chance. Newark took the lead on 29 minutes when a pinpoint crossfield ball from Jordan Cummings found Joachim who rounded the oncoming keeper and took the ball into the middle of the area before firing past the two defenders on the line. Phoenix keeper Herschelle – Smith was then forced into a fingertip save from Damian Lloyd and another from Jammy Lloyd after a long kick out from Burrows. The Lloyds combined a minute from the interval, Jammy feeding Damian, whose shot from the edge of the area went under the keeper’s dive to give him his first goal for the club.
Newark began the second half on the attack, Martin going close with a curling shot which was inches past the post. The visitors’ defence coped well with the hosts’ sporadic attacks Will Nelson and George Pearce dealing with any threat down the middle, while Richard Dent and Reece Carlisle combined solid defence with probing balls forward. Sub Kieron Wall flashed a ball across the face of the goal, while at the other end Burrows was down quickly to foil West as he broke clear. The home side failed to exploit the breeze as Town had in the first half though they did go close in the closing stages when a superb header from Hopkins brought an equally outstanding save from Burrows, though a highly dubious offside flag would have ruled it out. This was a competent if unspectacular win for Town, who have now gained more points than in the whole of last season.