Newport County found a narrow passage into the second-round of the FA Trophy with a 3-1 win over Farnborough.
A potential banana-skin away to lower-league opposition was negotiated thanks to goals from Charlie Henry, Ashan Holgate and a late Craig Reid effort.
After a quickly-taken free-kick nearly gave Henry the chance to open the scoring, it was his well-placed left-foot strike from the top of the penalty area that gave the visitors the lead on 22 minutes. An excellent first touch from Wayne Turk’s pass opened up space for Henry to strike and his effort beat the goalkeeper into the right corner.
County doubled their lead just after the interval when Reid latched onto a Sam Foley far-post cross, turned his defender and played an excellent ball across goal for Holgate to turn home.
Newport were thankful for the breathing space, being tested by the Zamaretto League leaders throughout a competitive game and the hosts worked themselves back into the contest with a goal with ten minutes remaining. For the second consecutive Saturday it was an in-swinging corner which undid County and a tense finish ensued.
Another corner very nearly levelled the tie but Wayne Turk managed to clear a goal-bound header off the line as the home side piled on the pressure in the closing stages.
Tensions frayed after a strong challenge from Paul Bignot saw him receive a second yellow-card and the Farnborough skipper, Steve Robinson, followed him down the tunnel as he was booked for a second time in the aftermath.
But County emerged from the scramble to seal their passage into round two as Henry played through Reid, who showed wonderful composure to round the goalkeeper and slot home from a narrow angle.
By Alex Winter
