Newport County 2-0 Hartlepool United: Did John Askey get it wrong and how Exiles nullified Pools - key takeaways

As the referee blew for full-time in South Wales Askey was tasked with shaking the hand of his opposite number as a loser for the first time.

Omar Bogle played the starring role of ‘former player scores against former club’ as he hooked in for Newport County after just 17 minutes before Mickey Demetriou added a second to, effectively, kill the game on the stroke of half-time.

And here are some of the key takeaways from Askey's first defeat as Pools boss:

Did John Askey get it wrong for the first time?

It’s the first time the question has been raised since his appointment but Askey’s decision to change his starting system at Rodney Parade is one which, ultimately, came under some scrutiny as Hartlepool struggled to find their way at all in the game.

Askey has suggested a number of times the use of three centre-backs with wing-backs is a system which best suits the players at his disposal and is why he has gone with that set-up in his first eight games in charge.

Here, though, Askey went with a back four in something of a 4-2-2-2 formation.

With Jamie Sterry unavailable to occupy the right wing-back role, and Peter Hartley and Matt Dolan unavailable to compete at centre-back, Askey decided to leave Taylor Foran on the bench and start with a centre-back pairing of Euan Murray and Edon Pruti, with Dan Dodds and David Ferguson at full-back.

That allowed Mohamad Sylla to return to the side following his self-inflicted absence to partner Nicky Featherstone with Dan Kemp and Callum Cooke further in front in midfield.

It was how Askey’s side finished their Easter Monday game with Stevenage, with the Hartlepool boss using that as scope for why he set up how he did.

“We’re trying to get the most out of the players we’ve got and with how we finished the game on Monday we thought that was the best way to go,” said Askey.

“It wasn’t so much systems, it's more individuals not doing their jobs properly.”

The latter of which certainly rang true as Pools struggled from the off, producing their worst display under Askey as Newport cruised to a comfortable three points.

Hartlepool United’s defensive concern

Within that statement much can be centred around the defence who gave up a whopping 27 efforts at their goal.

Hartlepool have had the worst defensive record throughout the season having now surpassed the 70 goal mark when it comes to goals against.

Pools are on track to eclipse the 75 goals conceded in their relegation season of 2016-17 with 2008-09’s League One tally of 79 also in danger of being exceeded.

Last season in League Two, Harrogate Town and Oldham Athletic each conceded 75 goals with Scunthorpe United conceding 90 as Oldham and Scunthorpe went down.

"I was always worried when we came up against a team away from home who put us under pressure whether we could deal with it or not,” said Askey.

"The disappointment came from early on with giving sloppy balls away. We didn’t get the opposition turned. We were trying to play the ball into midfield when it’s not on. It was just right from the off, we never really got going.”

No half-time substitutions

With the game getting away from them Askey also made an interesting decision when not making any changes at half-time.

Although he had been forced into one switch with Euan Murray going off injured, there was some surprise when no further moves were made at the break when trailing 2-0.

Askey did introduce a further four substitutions later in the game but, for the first time in his tenure, they failed to make the desired impact.

"The second half we did pick up slightly, possession-wise I think we had a ridiculous amount of possession but it means nothing,” said Askey.

"We always knew coming here they’re very strong on set plays and that was the main difference really, not being able to deal with that.”

How Newport County nullified Hartlepool United

Credit must go to Newport for how they were able to nullify Hartlepool.

Exiles boss Graham Coughlan explained how he felt his side showed from the very first headed clearance how much they were up for the game and that was evident throughout.

Newport had clearly done their homework as they did an excellent job of shackling Dodds and Kemp, two of Hartlepool’s productive outlets.

Dodds was often kept inside his own half, which may in part have been due to being part of a back four, whilst Kemp found it difficult to adapt in more of a hybrid role further forward.

Dodds made 20 unsuccessful passes as per Wyscout, only worsened by the 21 on his debut whilst he was only successful in 50 per cent of his defensive duels.

In total, Dodds completed 53 per cent of his total actions, with 29 of 40 unsuccessful actions coming inside his own half which shows how Newport were able to keep him penned in rather than allowing him to step out as we have seen when operating as the third centre-back.

Beyond that, Newport often doubled up on Dodds’ side of the field with Will Evans targeted as a spare man in overload situations.

Kemp, meanwhile, produced his weakest display since his move to the Suit Direct Stadium with only 39 total actions, his next lowest being at 52 in his debut against Doncaster Rovers.

With the change in system, both Kemp and Cooke were tasked with filling the void of width as well as their advanced central midfield roles with less width coming in the absence of Sterry.

It led to Kemp producing zero when it came to his shots or xG, crosses, dribbles and progressive runs, with the midfielder winning neither of his two offensive duels before being subbed.

Again, credit should be handed to Coughlan for how aggressively he set his side up to combat Hartlepool’s threats.

Newport squeezed Hartlepool and took full advantage of the spaces in midfield between Featherstone and Sylla and Cooke and Kemp with 67 of Hartlepool’s high of 158 losses under Askey coming from that area of the field.

Newport had an xG of 3.17, the third highest recorded against Hartlepool this season behind Sutton United in February (3.18) and Northampton Town in August (4.16) with Askey’s side producing just 0.44 in terms of their own xG, their lowest under him by some distance.

Nicky Featherstone and Mohamad Sylla

Askey’s logic was there when it came to his starting line-up given the impact made by Sylla when coming on alongside Featherstone against Stevenage.

The Frenchman helped Hartlepool gain control of the game with Featherstone then grabbing the equaliser.

Here, though, the tandem did not seem to work with Pools stymied in midfield and their creative output, as referenced in terms of their xG, reduced considerably.

It’s been a fine balance for any of the three Hartlepool managers this season when it comes to Sylla and or Featherstone but it seems, at this stage, they could be better suited to incorporating one, rather than both, in the starting line-up.