1979–80 Newport County A.F.C. season

Newport County
1979–80 season
Chairman	Richard Ford
Manager	Len Ashurst
Stadium	Somerton Park
Fourth Division	3rd (Promoted)
FA Cup	1st round
League Cup	1st round
Welsh Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Aldridge (14); All: Aldridge (16)
Highest home attendance	9,950 vs Shrewsbury Town (Welsh Cup, 6 May 1980)
Lowest home attendance	3,185 vs Northampton Town (18 September 1979)
Average home league attendance	5,137
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1978–79 1980–81 ⊟

The 1979–80 season was Newport County's 18th consecutive season in the Football League Fourth Division and their 52nd season overall in the Football League.

It was one of the most successful seasons in County's history. Finishing in third place in the Fourth Division the club attained promotion to the Football League Third Division for the 1980–81 season. After winning the Welsh Cup this season, County also earned a place in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup for the 1980–81 season.

Season review

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
46	27	7	12	56	59	−3	61	16	5	2	47	22	25	11	2	10	9	37	−28

Source: rsssf.com

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	A
Result	W	W	L	W	L	L	W	W	D	L	L	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	D	W	W	D	W	D	L	L	W	L	D	D	L	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	D	L	W	L	W
Position	8	3	8	6	7	9	7	6	8	8	10	8	8	8	4	5	6	5	6	5	4	5	2	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	3	3	3	4	4	4	3

Updated to match(es) played on 3 May 1980. Source: statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Fixtures and results

Fourth Division

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
18 Aug 1979	Port Vale	H	2–1	Vaughan, Goddard	4,008
21 Aug 1979	Aldershot	A	1–0	Moore	3,537
25 Aug 1979	Bournemouth	A	2–3	Oakes, Goddard	5,428
1 Sep 1979	York City	H	2–0	Oakes, Goddard	3,818
8 Sep 1979	Huddersfield Town	A	1–2	Oakes	3,134
15 Sep 1979	Bradford City	H	1–2	Vaughan	4,089
18 Sep 1979	Northampton Town	H	2–1	Tynan, Goddard (P)	3,185
22 Sep 1979	Doncaster Rovers	A	3–1	Thompson, Tynan, Goddard (P)	3,238
29 Sep 1979	Lincoln City	H	1–1	OG	4,035
2 Oct 1979	Northampton Town	A	2–3	Bailey, Warriner	2,346
6 Oct 1979	Halifax Town	A	1–2	Goddard	2,540
9 Oct 1979	Aldershot	H	4–2	Oakes, OG, Aldridge 2	3,782
13 Oct 1979	Tranmere Rovers	H	2–0	Aldridge, Lowndes	4,052
20 Oct 1979	Scunthorpe United	A	3–1	Aldridge 2, Lowndes	1,875
23 Oct 1979	Portsmouth	A	2–0	Lowndes, Oakes	20,755
27 Oct 1979	Wigan Athletic	H	3–2	Tynan 2, Oakes	4,914
3 Nov 1979	Port Vale	A	0–2		2,980
6 Nov 1979	Portsmouth	H	4–3	Oakes, Aldridge, Tynan 2	7,115
10 Nov 1979	Crewe Alexandra	H	1–1	D.Bruton	4,718
17 Nov 1979	Stockport County	A	5–0	Oakes, D.Bruton, Aldridge 3	3,407
1 Dec 1979	Darlington	H	4–0	Lowndes 2, Oakes, Relish	4,127
8 Dec 1979	Hartlepool United	A	0–0		2,587
15 Dec 1979	Scunthorpe United	H	2–1	Walden, D.Bruton	4,158
21 Dec 1979	Peterborough United	H	1–1	Tynan	4,653
26 Dec 1979	Torquay United	A	0–2		5,236
29 Dec 1979	Walsall	H	0–1		7,452
1 Jan 1980	Hereford United	H	1–0	Vaughan (P)	7,213
12 Jan 1980	York City	A	1–2	Aldridge	2,248
18 Jan 1980	Huddersfield Town	H	2–2	Oakes, M.Bruton	4,851
26 Jan 1980	Bournemouth	H	0–0		4,833
16 Feb 1980	Lincoln City	A	1–2	Lowndes	3,346
22 Feb 1980	Tranmere Rovers	A	2–0	Vaughan 2 (1P)	2,056
26 Feb 1980	Doncaster Rovers	H	2–1	Gwyther, Lowndes	4,652
8 Mar 1980	Wigan Athletic	A	1–0	Oakes	6,128
14 Mar 1980	Halifax Town	H	5–2	Gwyther 2, Vaughan 2 (1P), Aldridge	4,777
22 Mar 1980	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–0	Vaughan (P), D.Bruton, Gwyther	2,595
29 Mar 1980	Stockport County	H	3–1	Gwyther, Moore, Vaughan (P)	4,727
5 Apr 1980	Torquay United	H	3–0	Moore, Gwyther, Vaughan	6,513
7 Apr 1980	Hereford United	A	2–0	Vaughan, Gwyther	7,945
8 Apr 1980	Peterborough United	A	1–0	Vaughan	5,033
12 Apr 1980	Rochdale	H	1–0	Moore	8,113
19 Apr 1980	Darlington	A	1–1	Moore	1,906
22 Apr 1980	Bradford City	A	0–3		8,853
26 Apr 1980	Hartlepool United	H	1–0	Aldridge	8,373
29 Apr 1980	Rochdale	A	0–2		1,616
3 May 1980	Walsall	A	4–2	Aldridge 2, Gwyther, Tynan	9,251

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
1	24 Nov 1979	Portsmouth	Fratton Park	0–1		19,459

Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Aggregate
1–1	11 Aug 1979	Plymouth Argyle	Somerton Park	1–0	T.Tynan	4,574
1–2	14 Aug 1979	Plymouth Argyle	Home Park	0–2		4,505	1–2

Welsh Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
4	22 Jan 1980	Cardiff City	Somerton Park	2–0	J.Aldridge, T.Tynan	7,709
5	4 Mar 1980	Wrexham	Racecourse Ground	1–0	S.Lowndes	4,468
SF	25 Mar 1980	Merthyr Tydfil	Somerton Park	3–1	J.Aldridge, D.Gwyther 2	6,754

Final

First Leg

6 May 1980

19:45 BST

Newport County	2–1	Shrewsbury Town
Tynan 2	Report	Own goal

Somerton Park, Newport

Attendance: 9,950

Referee: R Bridges (Deeside)

Newport County

Shrewsbury Town


NEWPORT COUNTY:
GK	1	Gary Plumley
DF	2	Richard Walden
FW	3	Tommy Tynan
MF	4	Grant Davies
DF	5	Keith Oakes (c)
MF	6	Neil Bailey
MF	7	Nigel Vaughan
MF	8	Steve Lowndes
FW	9	Dave Gwyther
FW	10	John Aldridge
FW	11	Kevin Moore
Substitute:
MF	12	Bobby Ward
Manager:
Len Ashurst


SHREWSBURY TOWN:
GK	1	R Wardle
DF	2	Jack Keay
DF	3	C Leonard
DF	4	Graham Turner
DF	5	C Griffin
MF	6	Jake King
MF	7	David Tong
MF	8	Ian Atkins
FW	9	Steve Biggins
FW	10	John Dungworth
DF	11	Paul Maguire
Substitute:
DF	12	Steve Cross
Manager:
Graham Turner

MATCH RULES

90 minutes.
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
Replay if scores still level.
One named substitute.
Maximum of one substitution.

Second Leg

12 May 1980

19:45 BST

Shrewsbury Town	0–3	Newport County
	Report	Tynan Lowndes Gwyther

Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury

Attendance: 8,993

Referee: R Bridges (Deeside)

Shrewsbury Town

Newport County


SHREWSBURY TOWN:
GK	1	R Wardle
DF	2	Jake King
DF	3	C Leonard
DF	4	Brian Coyne
DF	5	C Griffin
MF	6	Jack Keay
MF	7	David Tong
MF	8	Ian Atkins
FW	9	Steve Biggins
FW	10	John Dungworth
DF	11	Paul Maguire
Substitute:
DF	12	Steve Cross
Manager:
Graham Turner


NEWPORT COUNTY:
GK	1	Gary Plumley
DF	2	Richard Walden
FW	3	Tommy Tynan
MF	4	Grant Davies
DF	5	Keith Oakes (c)
MF	6	Neil Bailey
MF	7	Nigel Vaughan
MF	8	Steve Lowndes
FW	9	Dave Gwyther
FW	10	John Aldridge
FW	11	Kevin Moore
Substitutes:
MF	12	Bobby Ward
Manager:
Len Ashurst

MATCH RULES

90 minutes.
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
Replay if scores still level.
One named substitute.
Maximum of one substitution.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Huddersfield Town	46	27	12	7	101	48	53	66	Champions, promoted
2	Walsall	46	23	18	5	75	47	28	64	Promoted
3	Newport County	46	27	7	12	83	50	33	61	Qualified for Cup Winners' Cup, promoted
4	Portsmouth	46	24	12	10	91	49	42	60	Promoted
5	Bradford City	46	24	12	10	77	50	27	60
6	Wigan Athletic	46	21	13	12	76	61	15	55
7	Lincoln City	46	18	17	11	64	42	22	53
8	Peterborough United	46	21	10	15	58	47	11	52
9	Torquay United	46	15	17	14	70	69	1	47
10	Aldershot	46	16	13	17	62	53	9	45
11	Bournemouth	46	13	18	15	52	51	1	44
12	Doncaster Rovers	46	15	14	17	62	63	−1	44
13	Northampton Town	46	16	12	18	51	66	−15	44
14	Scunthorpe United	46	14	15	17	58	75	−17	43
15	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	13	19	50	56	−6	41
16	Stockport County	46	14	12	20	48	72	−24	40
17	York City	46	14	11	21	65	82	−17	39
18	Halifax Town	46	13	13	20	46	72	−26	39
19	Hartlepool United	46	14	10	22	59	64	−5	38
20	Port Vale	46	12	12	22	56	70	−14	36
21	Hereford United	46	11	14	21	38	52	−14	36
22	Darlington	46	9	17	20	50	74	−24	35
23	Crewe Alexandra	46	11	13	22	35	68	−33	35
24	Rochdale	46	7	13	26	33	79	−46	27

Key
	Division Champions
	Promoted
	Welsh Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup, promoted
	Re-elected
	Failed re-election (none)

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

External links