CITY made a winning return to Valley Parade to beat Newport County 1-0 in their first home league game for five weeks.

T&A chief sports writer Simon Parker provides the facts and figures and his player ratings.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Jake Reeves continues to look like he’s never been away, using the ball intelligently, organising those around him and delivering some dangerous corners.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

James Vaughan latched on to an awful back pass from Newport defender Ryan Inniss to win the match-settling penalty.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

The first half was dire as two teams set up not to lose just cancelled each other out.

TACTICS

City switched to a 3-5-2 formation with Kelvin Mellor coming back in as the third centre half. Aramide Oteh returned to partner James Vaughan up front.

REFEREE: Anthony Backhouse (Cumbria)

BOOKINGS: Oteh, Taylor, P O’Connor, Reeves (City); Sheehan, Nurse, Townsend (Newport)

ATTENDANCE: 14,060

SHOTS ON TARGET: City 4, Newport 1

SHOTS OFF TARGET: City 6, Newport 7

CORNERS: City 6, Newport 1

FOULS COMMITTED: City 12, Newport 20

PLAYER RATINGS

CITY: O’Donnell 6, Mellor 6, P O’Connor 7, A O’Connor 6, Henley 6, Taylor 7 (Anderson 90min), Reeves 8, Cooke 6 (French 90min), Wood 6, Oteh 7 (Connolly 88min), Vaughan 6. Subs (not used): Ismail, McCartan, Palmer, Sykes-Kenworthy.

NEWPORT: Townsend 8, O’Brien 6, Inniss 5, Haynes 6, McNamara 5 (Poleon 76min), Dolan 6 (Collins 86min), Maloney 6, Sheehan 7, Nurse 6, Amond 5 (Matt 65min), Abrahams 5. Subs (not used): Jefferies, Woodiwiss.