Pourie to the double in Europe
Marvin Pourie’s composed double saw as FC Copenhagen past Newtown and into the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.
Pourie glanced home the Lions’ opener and bagged his second in between a Nicolai Jørgensen penalty as FCK added to their 2-0 first leg advantage.
Tom Goodwin grabbed a goal back for Newtown while Jason Oswell struck a post as the home side showed flashes of the class that saw them overcome Maltese side Valetta in the previous round.
But it wasn’t enough to ignite a comeback as Copenhagen saw out the tie to book a third qualifying round opening leg at FK Baumit Jablonec next Thursday.
Around 50 or so fans made the trip to rural Wales but there was no place in the XI for Daniel Amartey, whose visa problem meant Mathias Zanka made his season bow.
And it took 14 minutes for FCK to create their first chance when Jørgensen headed down into goalkeeper David Jones’ hands, before captain Thomas Delaney saw another header thunder wide.
But it wouldn’t take long before another aerial effort found the net when, on 28 minutes, Pourie expertly flicked on a Kasper Kusk centre after beating the offside trap.
In reply, Newtown’s Mathew Hearsey went close when he slung a leg at a low Stefan Edwards ball from the left, while Delaney fired a shot directly at Jones at the other end.
But Jones was helpless to prevent the Lions doubling their advantage six minutes before the break when Newtown centre-half Kieron Evans tripped Benjamin Verbic in the box.
Jørgensen was handed the duty of converting the spot kick to earn his first competitive goal of the season.
The scoreline failed to reflect Newtown’s adventurous intent and the home side were almost rewarded moments after Jørgensen’s goal - but Stephan Anderson was lucky enough to see Oswell’s effort clatter off the inside of the post and out to safety.
The half-time break saw manager Ståle Solbakken make two changes and just six minutes into the second half Pourie struck again when getting on the end of Peter Ankersen’s cut inside to convert from 14 yards.
And he twice came within a whisker of his hat-trick when, just after the hour mark, he first rattled Jones’ crossbar with a strike from the right edge of the box and then scooped a neat effort onto the roof of the net.
A goal was coming but to the delight of the home crowd it wasn’t Pourie who found the net but Goodwin, who got on the end of a flicked-on free-kick to stab the ball under Anderson at the far post and bag a deserved goal.
Suddenly Newtown’s tails were up. Hearsey had a low shot deflected over by Delaney before the midfielder headed wide an opportunity from a corner as Chris Hughes’ side sought a comeback.
Substitute Brandur Hendriksson (former named Brandur Olsen) and Oswell got the crowd on their feet with fierce efforts wide at either end but no more scores came as Copenhagen held out for the 3-1 victory while the Sun set behind the velvet Welsh hills.
NEWTOWN AFC: 1 FC COPENHAGEN: 3
Newtown: Jones, Edwards, Owen, Evans, Sutton (C), Hearsey, Boundford, Oswell, Mitchell, Williams, Goodwin.
FC Copenhagen: Anderson, Augustinsson, Nilsson, Zanka, Ankersen, Verbic, Delaney (C), Toutouh, Kusk, Jørgensen, Pourie.
Goals: Pourie (28’, 51’), Jørgensen (39’), Goodwin, Newtown (70’).
Referee: Stanislav Todorov (BUL).
Attendance: 1,400.
