York travel to south Wales still searching for a first away win of the season, but they will face a tough prospect with Newport County still unbeaten at home in the league in 2026/27. What kind of challenge will the Exiles present, and who are the players to keep an eye out for?
We’ve met before…
York’s most memorable meeting with Newport was probably the FA Trophy final in 2012, when goals from Matty Blair and Lanre Oyebanjo helped the Minstermen to a 2-0 win to lift the Trophy for the first time in the club’s history. Famously, City then returned to Wembley the following weekend to overcome Luton in the playoff final to seal a remarkable double and win promotion back to the football league.
City have made three previous trips to Rodney Parade. The first came in 2013/14 when Newport won 3-0 against Nigel Worthington’s side, then the following season a 3-1 triumph for the Exiles turned out to be Worthington’s last game in charge of York. The most recent trip there in September 2015 was more successful, with Russ Wilcox’s York side strolling to a 3-0 victory, but it proved a false dawn: Wilcox would be dismissed the next month as City’s league form stuttered, and the Newport game ended up being the only away win they managed all season.
What to expect from Newport
Newport came into the 2026/27 season seemingly in disarray, and widely expected to struggle. Christian Fuchs, who had taken over as manager and led them to safety last season, left unexpectedly at the start of pre-season, and it took over a month for a replacement to be recruited. When that replacement was announced as Hayden Mullins, whose only previous managerial experience was an underwhelming spell at Colchester five years ago, it did little to shift the expectation that the Exiles would be among the favourites for relegation. Yet Mullins’ side have started the season reasonably well, currently sitting in the top half of League Two.
Home form has been key for Newport this season: a return of three wins and two draws from the five league games played at Rodney Parade so far gives them the fourth highest home points total in the league. Recent positive results have been built on a solid defence, as the only goal they have conceded in the last four was an own goal from goalkeeper Jordan Wright in the 2-1 win over Grimsby.
Mullins has been setting up his team predominantly in a 4-2-3-1 formation, switching occasionally to a more defensive 5 at the back system for tricky away games. Their style is not possession based but instead relies on building a solid defensive base and making quick, direct counter attacks. In fact, this game will pit the side with the lowest average possession in League Two (Newport with 38%) against the side with the highest average possession (York with 65%), so it should provide an interesting clash of styles.
One of Newport’s strategies this season has been to use the experienced Christian Doidge as a target man to win long balls, with pacy wingers running off him. However, Doidge was forced off early in their last game with a groin issue and has been ruled out of Saturday’s game, so Shaquille Gwengwe may be moved from a wide role into the centre-forward position. Gwengwe certainly has the required goalscoring pedigree to play up front: having scored 47 times for non-league Poole Town last season, he’s already notched five for the Exiles since joining in the summer. Also making the headlines for Newport this season is energetic midfielder Harrison Biggins, after he scored an incredible goal from 77 yards out away at Salford.
Another scoring route that Newport have looked to exploit is set pieces. Their six goals scored from dead ball situations this season is the joint highest in League Two, and could be a cause for concern for City given their own propensity to concede from set pieces in recent weeks. Players to watch in terms of set piece threat include Gwengwe, who has scored twice from corners this season, plus centre-back and former York loanee Kyle Cameron who offers aerial presence and got his only goal of the season from a corner.
York team news
City have come through the week unscathed in terms of injuries, so there should be no enforced changes for Scott Lindsey to make. Lindsey has hinted at some changes in personnel for the game, however. The most likely switch would see Jeff King rewarded with a return to the starting eleven after his positive contribution as a second-half substitute against Northampton. Other players who could be pushing for a start include Jovan Malcolm and Frankie Maguire, with Joe Grey or Alex Newby perhaps most at risk of dropping out.
Morgan Williams, Hiram Boateng and Josh Stones have all returned to full training, but Saturday's game will come too soon for any of them to make the squad, with a late October return still looking most likely for the trio. Zech Medley and Craig Hewitt, meanwhile, remain out with injury.
