1986–87 Newport County A.F.C. season

Newport County
1986–87 season
Chairman	Archie Menzies
Manager	Jimmy Mullen; (until 5 March 1987); John Lewis; (from 5 March 1987)
Stadium	Somerton Park
Third Division	24th (relegated)
FA Cup	2nd round
League Cup	2nd round
Welsh Cup	Runner-up
Top goalscorer	League: P.Gibbins (8); All: P.Gibbins (12)
Highest home attendance	7,172 vs Everton (FA Cup, 7 Oct 1986)
Lowest home attendance	1,193 vs Bolton Wanderers (4 April 1987)
Average home league attendance	2,069
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1985–86 1987–88 →

The 1986–87 season was Newport County's seventh consecutive season in the Third Division, their 40th in the third tier and 59th overall in the Football League. They finished the season in 24th place and were relegated to the Fourth Division for the 1987–88 season.

Caretaker manager John Relish surprisingly wasn't chosen to continue as manager despite saving the club from relegation the previous year, and Jimmy Mullen was instead brought in as player-manager. The club started the season okay, albeit somewhat inconsistently, and occupied mid-table until the start of November. Things went horribly wrong after that however, and the club ensured a second successive season spending three months without a win. A 1–0 win over Doncaster on Valentine's Day saw a temporary improvement in form, but a 5–2 thumping at the hands of Notts County cost Mullen his job, with John Lewis stepping up to the manager's job for the rest of the season. The club picked up enough points here and there to maintain an outside chance of survival until the final weeks of the season, but a dismal return of just one point from the last six games saw them finish rock-bottom.

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	8	13	25	49	86	−37	37	4	9	10	26	34	−8	4	4	15	23	52	−29

Last updated: 9 May 1987.
Source: [1]

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	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	L	D	W	W	W	L	L	D	L	D	D	D	W	L	L	D	L	D	L	L	L	D	L	L	W	D	D	L	D	L	W	L	L	L	L	W	D	L	W	L	L	L	D	L	L
Position	19	21	21	18	11	9	10	14	16	23	19	19	19	16	18	18	20	20	19	21	22	23	23	23	24	22	22	22	22	22	23	22	22	22	23	24	22	22	24	22	22	22	23	23	23	24

Updated to match(es) played on 9 May 1987. Source: statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Fixtures and results

Third Division

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
23 Aug 1986	Gillingham	H	1–2	Lewis	2,533
30 Aug 1986	Bournemouth	A	1–2	Carter	2,799
6 Sep 1986	Swindon Town	H	2–2	Berry, Mardenborough	3,796
13 Sep 1986	Wigan Athletic	A	2–1	Lewis, Berry	2,004
16 Sep 1986	Darlington	A	3–1	Staniforth, Carter, Berry	1,805
20 Sep 1986	Doncaster Rovers	H	3–2	Carter, Lewis, Vinter	2,382
27 Sep 1986	Bury	A	3–4	Mardenborough, Carter, Vinter	2,136
4 Oct 1986	Brentford	A	0–2		3,231
11 Oct 1986	Chester City	H	2–2	Carter, Gibbins	2,119
25 Oct 1986	Chesterfield	A	2–3	Carter, Vinter	1,895
28 Oct 1986	Carlisle United	H	1–1	Gibbins	1,540
1 Nov 1986	Notts County	H	1–1	Mardenborough	1,960
4 Nov 1986	York City	H	1–1	Vinter	2,079
8 Nov 1986	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–0	Millett	4,530
22 Nov 1986	Middlesbrough	H	0–1		2,788
25 Nov 1986	Mansfield Town	A	0–1		2,319
29 Nov 1986	Blackpool	A	1–1	Mardenborough	3,281
2 Dec 1986	Bristol City	H	0–1		3,205
14 Dec 1986	Bristol Rovers	A	2–2	Gibbins 2	2,660
20 Dec 1986	Rotherham United	H	1–2	OG	1,760
26 Dec 1986	Walsall	A	0–2		6,855
27 Dec 1986	Port Vale	H	0–2		2,103
1 Jan 1987	Fulham	H	0–0		2,388
3 Jan 1987	Middlesbrough	A	0–2		9,585
25 Jan 1987	Swindon Town	A	0–3		6,620
14 Feb 1987	Doncaster Rovers	A	1–0	Gibbins	1,837
17 Feb 1987	Gillingham	A	1–1	Gibbins	3,542
21 Feb 1987	Bury	H	2–2	Gibbins 2	1,914
24 Feb 1987	Bournemouth	H	0–1		2,143
28 Feb 1987	Carlisle United	A	2–2	Gilligan, Vinter	2,192
3 Mar 1987	Notts County	A	2–5	Staniforth, Vinter	3,814
8 Mar 1987	Chesterfield	H	1–0	Carter	1,567
14 Mar 1987	Bristol City	A	0–4		9,137
17 Mar 1987	Mansfield Town	H	0–3		1,383
21 Mar 1987	Chester City	A	0–2		2,561
31 Mar 1987	Wigan Athletic	H	1–2	Balley	1,428
4 Apr 1987	Bolton Wanderers	H	2–1	Taylor, Thackeray	1,193
7 Apr 1987	Brentford	H	2–2	Giles, Staniforth	1,596
11 Apr 1987	York City	A	0–3		2,202
14 Apr 1987	Darlington	H	3–0	Lewis, Thackeray, Taylor	1,315
18 Apr 1987	Fulham	A	0–2		4,234
20 Apr 1987	Walsall	H	2–4	Taylor, Thackeray	2,003
25 Apr 1987	Rotherham United	A	1–3	Compton	2,555
2 May 1987	Blackpool	H	1–1	Staniforth	1,247
4 May 1987	Port Vale	A	1–6	Compton	2,733
9 May 1987	Bristol Rovers	H	0–1		3,165

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
1	15 Nov 1986	Bromsgrove Rovers	A	1–0	Vinter	3,440
2	6 Dec 1986	Fulham	A	0–2		4,052

Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Aggregate
1–1	27 Aug 1986	Exeter City	A	0–0		1,545
1–2	2 Sep 1986	Exeter City	H	1–0	Gibbins	1,620	1–0
2–1	24 Sep 1986	Everton	A	0–4		11,959
2–2	7 Oct 1986	Everton	H	1–5	Carter	7,172	1–9

Welsh Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Notes
3	11 Nov 1986	Swansea City	A	3–1	P.Jones, Millett, OG	4,756
4	10 Feb 1987	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–0	Vintner	634
5	11 Mar 1987	Aberystwyth Town	A	3–3	Gibbins, Vintner, Millett	3,000
5r	24 Mar 1987	Aberystwyth Town	H	3–0	Gibbins, Vintner, Compton	1,420
SF-1	16 Apr 1987	Wrexham	H	2–1	Thackeray, Taylor	2,109
SF-2	22 Apr 1987	Wrexham	A	2–2	Thackeray, Gibbins	1,989	4–3 aggregate
F	17 May 1987	Merthyr Tydfil	N	2–2	Thackeray 2	7,150	At Ninian Park
Fr	21 May 1987	Merthyr Tydfil	N	0–1		6,010	At Ninian Park

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Bournemouth	46	29	10	7	76	40	+36	97	Champions, promoted
2	Middlesbrough	46	28	10	8	67	30	+37	94	Promoted
3	Swindon Town	46	25	12	9	77	47	+30	87	Play-off winners, promoted
4	Wigan Athletic	46	25	10	11	83	60	+23	85	Play-offs
5	Gillingham	46	23	9	14	65	48	+17	78	Play-offs
6	Bristol City	46	21	14	11	63	36	+27	77
7	Notts County	46	21	13	12	77	56	+21	76
8	Walsall	46	22	9	15	80	67	+13	75
9	Blackpool	46	16	16	14	74	59	+15	64
10	Mansfield Town	46	15	16	15	52	55	–3	61
11	Brentford	46	15	15	16	64	66	–2	60
12	Port Vale	46	15	12	19	76	70	+6	57
13	Doncaster Rovers	46	14	15	17	56	62	–6	57
14	Rotherham United	46	15	12	19	48	57	–9	57
15	Chester City	46	13	17	16	61	59	+2	56
16	Bury	46	14	13	19	54	60	–6	55
17	Chesterfield	46	13	15	18	56	69	–13	54
18	Fulham	46	12	17	17	59	77	–18	53
19	Bristol Rovers	46	13	12	21	49	75	–26	51
20	York City	46	12	13	21	55	79	–24	49
21	Bolton Wanderers	46	10	15	21	46	58	–12	45	Lost play-offs, relegated
22	Carlisle United	46	10	8	28	39	78	–39	38	Relegated
23	Darlington	46	7	16	23	45	77	–32	37	Relegated
24	Newport County	46	8	13	25	49	86	–37	37	Relegated

Key
	Division Champions
	Promoted
	Into play-offs
	Relegated