Newport County storm back to rout Walsall 3-1 in FA Cup

Conceding in the 6th minute and winding up winning 3-1 isn't exactly the norm, but that's how Newport County's afternoon unfolded at Rodney Parade. The Welsh side flipped the scoreline against Walsall in just 16 minutes, then managed the lead the rest of the way to put themselves firmly in the conversation for this round of the FA Cup.

The opening blow came early. In the 6th minute, Andy Dallas connected on a right footed strike from the center of the box that slipped in by the right side of the home goal: 0-1 for Walsall, and Rodney Parade fell silent. But Newport didn't take long to answer. In the 18th minute, Kion Etete leveled things with a right footed shot into the top corner off an assist from Ciarán Brennan, and four minutes later, in the 22nd, Michael Adu-Poku made it 2-1 with a low shot that found the left side of the net, pouncing on a bounce off a free kick. In the space of a quarter of an hour, the match had been turned completely on its head.

Walsall had chances to get back into it before the break (Ryan Leak tested the keeper with a header in the 37th), and the first half ended with Newport County ahead 2-1. In the second half, the home side put the game away early: in the 59th minute, Etete scored his second of the afternoon with a close range finish that went in off the left post, just seconds after rattling the frame of the goal with another shot. The 3-1 scoreline held from there, even as Walsall turned to the bench for fresh legs and created a few dangerous moments late on, including a couple of efforts from Tai Sodje near the final whistle.

What the numbers say

Possession belonged to the visitors, but Newport County was sharper and more persistent in front of goal.

Newport nearly doubled Walsall's shot total, 17 to 9, despite seeing less of the ball, proof that they knew how to be direct when it counted. Walsall, meanwhile, racked up more than double the fouls, 19 to 9, a sign of a match that got away from them after falling behind 2-1 and that they ended up playing through stoppages rather than through fluid soccer.

What was expected before kickoff

The buildup didn't point to this script. Before the match, the published projection gave Walsall a 42% chance of winning, against 28% for Newport County and 30% for a draw, with expected goals of 1.36 for the visitors compared to 1.08 for the home side. The final result defied that forecast: the side that came in as favorites ended up beaten 3-1, with two goals from Etete and one from Adu-Poku, in a match where Newport was more clinical than anyone expected.

With this result, Newport County leaves a strong impression in this round of the FA Cup: they came back quickly, didn't let up after taking the lead, and closed out the match with a third goal that snuffed out any hope of a Walsall comeback down the stretch.