Dunstable Town stunned by Newport Pagnell fightback

Dunstable made a great start when Jack Harvey smashed the Blues into an early lead from a goalmouth scramble.

But Newport Pagnell settled well, with Mackenzie Taylor forced into a good save from Jim Burnside’s low shot.

The Blues continued to threaten going forward, Luke Little forcing a save after a Chris Stapleton through ball.

And Dunstable doubled their lead when Kelvin Osei-Addo’s vicious long-range shot was tipped onto the underside of the bar by keeper Nick Bennion and with many looking at the linesman to check if it had crossed the line, Stapleton converted the rebound for 2-0.

Seconds before half-time, Newport Pagnell had a route back when Ben Shephard’s penalty halved the deficit.

And within five second-half minutes, the visitors were in front thanks to Shephard’s second goal and one for Jim Burnside.

The momentum was with Newport Pagnell, but Dunstable were not bowing, Eric Ameyaw finding space in the box at a corner to flash a header past the post.

With little under 20 minutes left, it was 4-2 as Burnside pounced again from close range.

But eight minutes later, a flowing Dunstable move culminated Jack Harvey heading in Luke Little’s wonderful cross for his second to set up an exciting final 10 minutes.

Stapleton and Little drove hard at the Newport defence as the Blues pushed hard for an equaliser, but the away side held out.