Kieran Barnes’ first-half stunner kick starts Newport Pagnell’s victory.
By Richard Scott
Comfortable win for Newport Pagnell Town at Wembley.
If you are going to score a goal at Wembley, then why not make it a screamer, and that is exactly what Newport Pagnell Town’s Kieran Barnes did to win this season’s Buildbase FA Vase.
The midfielder gave the Swans a first-half lead when he fired home from around 25 yards out before Ben Shepherd, not the TV presenter, put a bit of gloss on the second half to ensure it was the men in Green celebrating come full-time.
However, the game was marred with a serious injury to Littlehampton player-manager George Gaskin in the first half as he left the pitch on a stretcher.
After a frantic opening to the game saw both sides had chances to open the scoring, Newport took the lead on 19 minutes when a corner from Shepherd was only cleared as far as Barnes who lifted the ball over everyone’s head including Littlehampton goalkeeper James Binfield to dip into the back of the net.
The Marigold’s looked to get back into the contest, but they were hit with a major setback on 37 minutes when their player-manager George Gaskin collided with Mo Ahmed. It looked so innocuous and Ahmed was able to get up and walk away from the challenge, however, it left Gaskin having to be stretched off the pitch.
After the break, Littlehampton had to thank Binfield for keeping them in the tie on 51 minutes when he spectacularly tipped over an effort from Jordan Wright who was left free in the area.
However, he couldn’t do anything just four minutes later when some poor defending allowed Newport in to score their second goal on 54 minutes. Some disappointing defending allowed Danny Webb to play in Watkinson, whose shot was blocked by Binfield. However, the rebound fell to Shepherd who had an easy tap in.
Shepherd got his second, and Newport’s third just seven minutes later when Watkinson was brought down by Lewis Jenkins leaving referee Sam Barrott no option but to point to the spot. Shepherd stepped up in front of his adoring Newport fans to send Binfield the wrong way and calmly roll the ball into the net.
To Littlehampton’s credit, they didn’t give up and had two chances to get a goal back. First Shay Wiggans put a header just narrowly wide of Martin Conway’s goal before the keeper was able to comfortably save Jenkins’ header in the final moments of the game.
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