The Mariners were victorious over visitors Newport County thanks to a late Kieran Green strike, deep into added time.
David Artell made seven changes to the side that beat Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night, with Cameron McJannet, Harvey Rodgers and Jayden Sweeney joining Doug Tharme in defence, Geza David Turi and Evan Khouri making way for George McEachran and Kieran Green in midfield. The attack saw Darragh Burns and Cameron Gardner replaced by Charles Vernam and Jaze Kabia. Christy Pym remained between the sticks for the tie.
FIRST HALF
Town began the game excellently, earning a corner kick almost immediately thanks to good work from Kabia at the near post, with his clever goalward flick deflected out via a Newport defender.
The resulting corner was delivered invitingly by Charles Vernam, which found the head of a rising Kieran Green. The captain’s effort flashed goalwards and thanks to a cruel deflection via Newport forward Courtney Baker-Richardson, Town had the lead within the opening minute.
Town’s early advantage was almost doubled on the ten-minute mark, with Vernam cutting in expertly and curling a low effort towards the bottom right corner, only for Newport goalkeeper, Nik Tzanev to push the effort wide of the post.
The Mariners continued to work for a second, and just before the 20-minute mark a mix-up in the Newport box saw Kieran Green felled by Newport’s left back Thomas Davies. Davies swung wildly to clear a loose ball and took down the arriving Green, leaving referee Zak Kennard-Kettle little choice but to point to the spot.
Jaze Kabia was the man over the ball, firing low and hard towards the bottom right corner, but his effort was well saved by Tzanev, with the scrambled follow up smashed across the face by Harvey Rodgers.
SECOND HALF
The second half began in a similar fashion to the first and only five minutes in, great work from Jamie Walker afforded space for Sweeney to have an effort on goal. The full back’s effort deflected off Matthew Baker but only as far as Amaluzor, who fired a low effort towards goal, evading Tzanev but bouncing back off the post.
Despite the constant Town pressure, a well-worked break from the visitors restored parity in the tie. Led by Michael Reindorf, the forward showed good footwork to beat Jayden Sweeney and deliver an inviting cross to an unmarked Matthew Baker, who volleyed the ball beyond a helpless Christy Pym.
This set-back only spurred on the Mariners, with Cameron McJannet forcing a strong save from Tzanev from the edge of the area 67 minutes in.
Moments later it was Walker with a well worked chance, which narrowly avoided the bottom corner.
It was David Artell’s second half substitutes that proved vital, with Burns and Khouri combining brilliantly, deep into added time. A delicate through ball from Burns found Khouri, who lashed the ball low across the face of goal, with Green arriving first and stumbling the ball over the line, much to the delight of the Town fans.
Next up for Artell’s high-flying Mariners is a visit to last season’s Play-Off finalists Walsall on Tuesday 19th August.
Town: Pym, Rodgers (Staunton, 81), Tharme, McJannet, Sweeney (Warren, 81), McEachran, Green, Walker (Khouri, 74), Amaluzor (Burns, 65), Vernam (Gardner, 81), Kabia
Subs not used: Auton, Turi
Attendance, brought to you by Kingsway Hotel, Cleethorpes: 6,402, with 112 visitors.
UTM
