Both aiming to bounce back to winning ways, Harrogate Town and Newport County will square off at the Exercise Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors dropped to 10th spot in the League Two table following a defeat on Monday, while their hosts find themselves four points worse off in 18th place after 10 league outings.
Match preview
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Harrogate Town return to action at the Exercise Stadium on Saturday in search of a fourth League Two victory of the season, having experienced a mixed start to the new term.
After achieving their highest-ever league finish last time around, ending their fourth consecutive League Two campaign in 13th spot, the Sulphurites set out to continue their improvement this season, and they currently sit 18th after 10 games with 11 points on the board.
Their struggles have come in defence thus far, with only three sides having conceded more than the 16 goals that Simon Weaver‘s men have allowed, most notably suffering a heavy defeat at home to MK Dons at the beginning of October on the back of an impressive home victory over Bradford City.
In their most recent outing at the Exercise Stadium last Tuesday, the Sulphurites succumbed to a 5-1 beating, having reduced the deficit to 3-1 through a Luke Offord own goal 17 minutes from time, only for Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Sonny Finch to put the game out of sight in the dying embers.
Now on the back of a goalless stalemate away at Swindon Town last weekend, Harrogate Town will bid to bounce back to winning ways on Saturday to move onto 14 points for the season and nine at home.
Their visitors also head into the weekend aiming to bounce back with a victory, having seen their momentum halted on Monday on the back of a mixed start to their latest League Two campaign.
From their 10 matches thus far in England’s fourth tier, the Exiles have managed five victories and suffered five defeats, having conceded a league-high tally of 20 goals, while only three sides have scored more than their 16.
On the back of three consecutive losses in September, Nelson Jardim‘s side rebounded with a pair of victories, beating Crewe Alexandra and Salford City 2-1 and 3-1 respectively at Rodney Parade before facing a tough trip to take on Bradford City on Monday.
After falling behind in the first half of that contest, the Welsh outfit did draw level through Kyle Hudlin in the 65th minute, but they were unable to hold on for a first draw of the season as Jamie Walker restored the hosts’ lead 10 minutes later and Bobby Pointon put the game out of sight.
Newport County will now bid to arrest the threat of another losing run on Saturday and put a sixth victory of the season on the board just a second away from home.
Harrogate Town League Two form:
Harrogate Town form (all competitions):
Newport County League Two form:
Newport County form (all competitions):
Team News
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After making some rotations for their midweek EFL Trophy meeting with Crewe Alexandra, Simon Weaver should switch back to a similar Harrogate Town starting XI from last week’s draw against Swindon Town, with Anthony O’Connor set to rejoin Jasper Moon at the heart of a back four.
Josh Falkingham could keep his place in the midfield alongside Dean Cornelius and don the captain’s armband, with the Sulphurites set to revert to a 4-2-3-1 shape.
Ahead of them, James Daly, Stephen Duke-McKenna and Ellis Taylor could reform a supporting trio behind lone striker Jack Muldoon, who is yet to score in League Two this season after hitting 42 goals alongside 19 assists over their previous four fourth-tier campaigns.
Newport head to Yorkshire with several issues to contend with, particularly in defence, with Anthony Glennon set to miss out through suspension after picking up a fifth yellow card of the season in their defeat to Bradford, while Shane McLoughlin remains sidelined by an injury and Matt Baker is away with Wales Under-21s.
Given those absences, James Clarke should return to the back four from the outset, likely joining Ciaran Brennan leaving Kyle Jameson to shift out to the left-hand side and Cameron Evans to continue on the right.
Winger Michael Spellman will push to earn a first start of the season after returning from an injury layoff, but Nelson Jardim may stick with the trio of Bobby Kamwa, Aaron Wildig and Kieron Evans in support of Huddersfield Town loanee Kyle Hudlin, who has scored in back-to-back games ahead of the weekend’s trip.
Harrogate Town possible starting lineup:
Belshaw; Sims, O’Connor, Moon, Foulds; Falkingham, Cornelius; Taylor, Duke-McKenna, Daly; Muldoon
Newport County possible starting lineup:
Townsend; C Evans, Brennan, Clarke, Jameson; Morris, Mawene; Kamwa, Wildig, K Evans; Hudlin
With two relatively evenly-matched sides both fighting to get back to winning ways on Saturday, we anticipate a hard-fought encounter at the Exercise Stadium and cannot quite pick a winner, instead opting for what would be Newport’s first league draw of the season.
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