Crawley fan Olly reports from his latest stop-over in Vietman and an encounter with a Newport fan
When Reds' fan Olly Huddlestone went travelling in September we gave him a home shirt and told him to spread the Crawley Town gospel. Here's his latest dispatch...
From Cambodia I took the 15-hour bus journey to Nha Trang, on the coast of Vietnam, via Ho Chi Minh.
Nha Trang is a holiday hotspot for Russians and until my final day I still hadn't met anyone else from the UK. Which was what made me look twice when I thought I saw a Newport County shirt stuffed in a backpack on the beach.
I waited for the owner to come back and I was right, it was the home shirt of Reds League Two rivals and I had finally met someone who wasn't Russian.
Michael was a very friendly man who comes from the Welsh valleys, just a bit north of Newport. He came to Vietnam three years ago and has never looked back and you can't blame him with 300-plus guaranteed days of sunshine each year.
Michael told me how County had gone out to Vietnam to coach football schools for the youngsters, but had to stop as the Vietnamese didn't want to pay for the quality of coaching.
I managed to catch ten minutes of a local match and from what I saw they could definitely use some coaching. In the blistering heat they ran around like headless chickens, all chasing the ball leaving one solitary defender at the back. It wasn't a problem though, as the opposition had no how idea to counter-attack and there was a swarm of 17 players around the ball all the time.
Whilst taking the photo I couldn't help but raise three fingers in respect of Reds’ 3-0 victory earlier in the season, where Gwion Edwards controlled the game with two goals - one a thunderbolt - and provided an assist for Matt Harrold.
Michael hoped Newport County would steer clear of the basement battle with Dagenham & Redbridge, York & Yeovil, but admitted the gruelling festive period could have a bearing on the battles at both ends of the table.
