# 1977–78 Newport County A.F.C. season

The 1977–78 season was Newport County's 16th consecutive season in the Football League Fourth Division and their 50th season overall in the Football League. Despite the eventual lowly 16th-place finish, this season was a much-improved performance over the previous season's relegation battle. The club was actually in third place with promotion looking likely with ten games to go, but those games yielded a mere three points and County missed out again on a return to the Third Division.

## Season review
### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 65 | 73 | −8 | 43 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 43 | 22 | +21 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 22 | 51 | −29 |
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 | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H |
| Result | D | W | L | W | D | L | W | W | L | W | W | D | D | L | D | W | W | D | W | L | W | D | L | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | L | W | W | W | L | D | L | L | L | D | L | L | D | D | L | L |
| Position | 11 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 16 |

## Fixtures and results
### Fourth Division

| Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Scorers | Attendance |
| 20 Aug 1977 | Doncaster Rovers | A | 2–2 | Preece, Clark | 3,041 |
| 27 Aug 1977 | Huddersfield Town | H | 2–0 | Woods, S.Walker | 3,367 |
| 3 Sep 1977 | Barnsley | A | 0–1 | | 4,009 |
| 6 Sep 1977 | York City | H | 2–1 | Woods, OG | 2,987 |
| 10 Sep 1977 | Darlington | H | 1–1 | Woods | 2,776 |
| 14 Sep 1977 | Crewe Alexandra | A | 0–2 | | 1,812 |
| 17 Sep 1977 | Rochdale | A | 1–0 | Woods | 1,116 |
| 24 Sep 1977 | Swansea City | H | 1–0 | Goddard | 5,156 |
| 27 Sep 1977 | Wimbledon | A | 0–3 | | 3,941 |
| 1 Oct 1977 | Grimsby Town | H | 3–0 | Preece 2, Woods | 2,746 |
| 4 Oct 1977 | Scunthorpe United | H | 3–1 | Woods 3 | 3,191 |
| 8 Oct 1977 | Aldershot | A | 2–2 | Preece, Woods | 3,452 |
| 15 Oct 1977 | Stockport County | H | 2–2 | Preece, S.Walker | 4,083 |
| 22 Oct 1977 | Watford | A | 0–2 | | 10,475 |
| 29 Oct 1977 | Torquay United | H | 0–0 | | 4,137 |
| 5 Nov 1977 | Northampton Town | A | 4–2 | Goddard 2, Emmanuel, R.Walker | 3,568 |
| 12 Nov 1977 | Halifax Town | H | 2–0 | Guscott, Woods | 3,992 |
| 19 Nov 1977 | Southport | A | 3–3 | Clark. Goddard, Williams | 1,167 |
| 3 Dec 1977 | Hartlepool United | H | 4–2 | R.Walker, Goddard, Clark, Emmanuel | 3,233 |
| 9 Dec 1977 | Southend United | A | 2–4 | Clark, Goddard | 5,840 |
| 26 Dec 1977 | Bournemouth | H | 3–2 | Williams 2, Clark | 7,629 |
| 27 Dec 1977 | Brentford | A | 3–3 | Williams 2, Preece | 8,970 |
| 31 Dec 1977 | Reading | A | 0–2 | | 5,808 |
| 2 Jan 1978 | Northampton Town | H | 5–3 | Goddard 2, Clark 2, Jones | 7,160 |
| 7 Jan 1978 | York City | A | 0–2 | | 1,971 |
| 14 Jan 1978 | Doncaster Rovers | H | 1–0 | Williams | 4,029 |
| 21 Jan 1978 | Huddersfield Town | A | 0–2 | | 4,894 |
| 4 Feb 1978 | Darlington | A | 1–2 | Clark | 1,744 |
| 11 Feb 1978 | Rochdale | H | 3–0 | Goddard 3 | 4,288 |
| 17 Feb 1978 | Swansea City | A | 0–4 | | 6,056 |
| 25 Feb 1978 | Grimsby Town | A | 0–1 | | 3,937 |
| 28 Feb 1978 | Barnsley | H | 3–1 | Goddard 2, R.Walker | 3,523 |
| 4 Mar 1978 | Aldershot | H | 2–1 | Aizlewood, Clark | 3,737 |
| 7 Mar 1978 | Crewe Alexandra | H | 1–0 | Preece | 4,774 |
| 10 Mar 1978 | Stockport County | A | 0–2 | | 3,863 |
| 17 Mar 1978 | Watford | H | 2–2 | Goddard, R.Walker | 8,409 |
| 22 Mar 1978 | Torquay United | A | 0–2 | | 3,055 |
| 25 Mar 1978 | Brentford | H | 1–2 | Goddard | 4,953 |
| 28 Mar 1978 | Bournemouth | A | 2–4 | Williams, Jones | 2,479 |
| 1 Apr 1978 | Reading | H | 0–0 | | 2,333 |
| 4 Apr 1978 | Scunthorpe United | A | 0–2 | | 2,457 |
| 8 Apr 1978 | Halifax Town | A | 1–3 | Goddard | 1,653 |
| 15 Apr 1978 | Southport | H | 1–1 | Sinclair | 2,440 |
| 22 Apr 1978 | Hartlepool United | A | 1–1 | Goddard | 1,988 |
| 25 Apr 1978 | Wimbledon | H | 0–1 | | 2,112 |
| 29 Apr 1978 | Southend United | H | 1–2 | Emmanuel | 2,364 |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Scorers | Attendance |
| 1 | 26 Nov 1977 | Exeter City | H | 1–1 | Goddard | 6,229 |
| 1r | 30 Nov 1977 | Exeter City | A | 2–4 | Goddard, Clark | 5,713 |

### Football League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Scorers | Attendance | Notes |
| 1–1 | 13 Aug 1977 | Portsmouth | A | 1–3 | Woods | 7,541 | |
| 1–2 | 16 Aug 1977 | Portsmouth | H | 3–2 | R.Walker, Preece, Clark | 2,895 | 4–5 agg |

### Welsh Cup

| Round | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Scorers | Attendance |
| 4 | 17 Jan 1978 | Swansea City | A | 0–0 | | 7,504 |
| 4r | 24 Jan 1978 | Swansea City | H | 1–0 | Williams | 6,098 |
| 5 | 14 Feb 1978 | Bangor City | H | 1–3 | R.Walker | 3,604 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Watford | 46 | 30 | 11 | 5 | 85 | 38 | +47 | 71 |
| 2 | Southend United | 46 | 25 | 10 | 11 | 66 | 39 | +27 | 60 |
| 3 | Swansea City | 46 | 23 | 10 | 13 | 87 | 47 | +40 | 56 |
| 4 | Brentford | 46 | 21 | 14 | 11 | 86 | 54 | +32 | 56 |
| 5 | Aldershot | 46 | 19 | 16 | 11 | 67 | 47 | +20 | 54 |
| 6 | Grimsby Town | 46 | 21 | 11 | 14 | 57 | 51 | +6 | 53 |
| 7 | Barnsley | 46 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 61 | 49 | +12 | 50 |
| 8 | Reading | 46 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 55 | 52 | +3 | 50 |
| 9 | Torquay United | 46 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 57 | 56 | +1 | 47 |
| 10 | Northampton Town | 46 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 63 | 68 | −5 | 47 |
| 11 | Huddersfield Town | 46 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 63 | 55 | +8 | 45 |
| 12 | Doncaster Rovers | 46 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 52 | 65 | −13 | 45 |
| 13 | Wimbledon | 46 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 66 | 67 | −1 | 44 |
| 14 | Scunthorpe United | 46 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 50 | 55 | −5 | 44 |
| 15 | Crewe Alexandra | 46 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 50 | 69 | −19 | 44 |
| 16 | Newport County | 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 65 | 73 | −8 | 43 |
| 17 | Bournemouth | 46 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 41 | 51 | −10 | 43 |
| 18 | Stockport County | 46 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 56 | 56 | +0 | 42 |
| 19 | Darlington | 46 | 14 | 13 | 19 | 52 | 59 | −7 | 41 |
| 20 | Halifax Town | 46 | 10 | 21 | 15 | 52 | 62 | −10 | 41 |
| 21 | Hartlepool United | 46 | 15 | 7 | 24 | 51 | 84 | −33 | 37 |
| 22 | York City | 46 | 12 | 12 | 22 | 50 | 69 | −19 | 36 |
| 23 | Southport | 46 | 6 | 19 | 21 | 52 | 76 | −24 | 31 |
| 24 | Rochdale | 46 | 8 | 8 | 30 | 43 | 85 | −42 | 24 |
* Division Champions
* Promoted
* Re-elected
* Failed re-election
P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points