Newport County 0
Forest Green Rovers 5
James Norwood's stunning hat-trick and an equally incredible result made it a dream start to 2013 for Forest Green, writes Peter Orchard.
Norwood's eighth goal of the season and a tenth of the campaign for Yan Klukowski put Rovers 2-0 up at the interval – both strikes of supreme quality.
Title-chasing Newport were expected to mount a fightback of epic proportions, but instead the visitors ran riot in the second half to roar back into the Blue Square Bet Premier play-offs zone.
The return of Kieron Forbes in midfield after eight weeks on the sidelines was a sight for any bleary New Year's Day eyes in the away end, although his recall came at the expense of injured captain Jamie Collins.
It meant Jared Hodgkiss was handed the armband in preference to Eddie Oshodi, back in central defence in place of the suspended Jamie Turley.
A swift Rovers counter-attack saw the ball cleverly worked by Matty Taylor into the path of Steve Brogan, whose shot was beaten away by Alan Julian.
Arch poacher Taylor turned provider again three minutes later, laying off for the onrushing Hodgkiss to blaze over from 15 yards.
Rovers were making light of a sticky pitch that bore more than a few scars from the previous day's rugby match, but home goalkeeper Julian looked intent on repeating his Boxing Day heroics.
On 14 minutes he pulled off a fine reaction save, foiling Norwood after the winger had burst clear in the right channel and produced an angled drive.
There were no serious alarms at the other end until the 19th minute, when ex-Forest Green loanee Andy Sandell drove wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Left-back Sandell was a product of Rovers' youth set-up before progressing to the Football League, and he was narrowly wide again with a shot on the turn after Sam Russell had spilled a left-wing cross. Newport were just getting a foothold in the contest when they fell behind on 38 minutes. The goal stemmed from a Hodgkiss throw-in to Klukowski, who teed up Norwood for a rocket of a shot that gave Julian no chance.
It should have been 2-0 even sooner when Brogan fed Klukowski with an inch-perfect through ball, only for the latter to scuff wide with only Julian to beat.
He did not have to wait long to make amends though, tapping home from a matter of inches after Chris Stokes had offered a brilliant overlapping run and low cross.
The second period was now set up perfectly for counter-attacking, and on 68 minutes another slick move saw Klukowski feed the onrushing Norwood for a drilled finish that made it 3-0.
It was to get even better, as with 16 minutes left substitute Reece Styche pounced on Al Bangura's long punt and rammed home number four past a shellshocked Julian.
Newport were now a shambles in defence, but Norwood could deservedly bask in glory four minutes later when he latched onto sub James Rowe's pass and clinically completed his treble.
Newport County: A Julian; B Anthony, I Yakubu, T James, A Sandell; M Porter, M Flynn, L Evans (L Minshull 73), B Swallow (C Washington 73); A O'Connor, M Smith (R Charles 55); Subs not used: A Hughes, L Pidgeley.
Forest Green: S Russell; J Hodgkiss, E Oshodi, A Racine, C Stokes (E Asafu-Adjaye 75); K Forbes (J Rowe 72), A Bangura, S Brogan (R Styche 57); J Norwood, M Taylor, Y Klukowski; Subs not used: P Green, M Vieira.
Referee: G Horwood (Beds)
Attendance: 2,787
Star man: James Norwood
