| Online rivalry expensive for Newtown |
| Monday 08 March 2010 |
 NEWTOWN secretary Owen Durbridge has condemned online publicity which surrounded Saturday's Welsh Premier game with Aberystwyth. The Robins were forced to lay on extra stewarding and incurred substantial policing costs after social networking sites threatened trouble between rival supporters at the mid-Wales derby. "Many thanks for the support today from the new fans, and many thanks for abiding by our request for good standards of behaviour," said Durbridge (pictured). "A special word of thanks to the stewards and fans from Aberystwyth who followed our requests to the letter. "The police were very supportive after the silly nonsense on some websites, but the unfortunate aspect of it is that the club has received poor publicity from the exchange of nonsense and a lot of expense was spent policing football in Newtown which has never been needed before and I hope we will never need it again. "We stage football to entertain lovers of football and for no other reason - but once more, thanks for the good behaviour." The crowd of 475 was Newtown's highest of the season and there was no reported trouble at Latham Park. |