Bobby Kamwa celebrates in front of fans of his former club Newport County in what played out to be an eight goal thriller at Bristol Rovers.
A bonkers game of football, with the Severnside derby boiling over in part, and it could have been a bigger scoreline than the 5-3 it ended in Rovers’ favour.
Steve Evans’ side bounced back from opening day defeat against York with a second half fightback entertaining the home fans at the Memorial Stadium.
It was however Newport who went ahead with just 15 seconds on the clock, Harrison Biggins calmly netting, both sides had chances come back off the woodwork, Rovers made it 1-1 through Ben Purrington just before half time.
Bristol Rovers found themselves 3-1 up by the 57th minute, Fabrizio Cavegn and an own goal from Lee Jenkins.
Shaquille Gwengwe, who scored 46 goals in 46 games last season in the Southern Premier Division South for Poole Town, made it two goals in two games for the Exiles.
Kamwa, who had two seasons with Newport, made it 4-2 to Bristol Rovers, Cole Jarvis got Newport a third on 91 minutes, then Cavegn got a fifth to seal a win for the hosts.
Hahahahahahha pic.twitter.com/gXl4J58sH9
— Weeksy (@weeksy11) August 22, 2026
What a finish from Bobby! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/BE9x0SWvVs
— Bristol Rovers (@Official_BRFC) August 22, 2026
Newport players looked happy to see Kamwa at FT 🤣 pic.twitter.com/xMX53UHfll
— Steve (@SteveTheScout1) August 22, 2026
On the game, Bristol Rovers’ Steve Evans said, as per Bristol Post: “Yeah, listen, I think if you generalise, any time you can win a derby in front of a packed Mem and you score five goals and we can talk about the other goals that we conceded at different times or later in this interview, but to score five goals in the way, the manner of some of the performance, the character after going a goal down in what was it – 18 seconds the ball goes into the net (replays suggest it may have been 13 seconds).
“So then, five minutes, all the boys sort themselves out and then, listen, I think we dominated for long spells all bar counter attacks.
“We could probably have scored double the goals we scored today, and the actual defending was really good over the 90 minutes, but in certain instances, it was the opposite of being really good, and everyone knows what that is.
“But those individuals might pay a price, that’s just where we are, and we’ve seen two full-backs pay a price last week, and I thought Tom James and Ben Purrington came in and were outstanding.”
On comments aimed at Kamwa: “Yeah, I can remember – I can’t pronounce his name – but I can remember a very famous footballer who ran 90 yards to celebrate when he scored a fantastic goal.
“And I have a lot of time for the ownership model at Newport County, and the fans have always been fair with me and give me a bit of banter, etcetera, but some of them, it’ll be individuals, possibly, that overstepped the line.
“So when Bobby sticks a goal at that end, Bobby’s a little Yorkshire boy who’s got character and a bit of fight, a bit of spirit.
“I read his words in the Bristol press earlier this week when he said, if they give me some proper stick, I’ll celebrate. If they behave themselves, I wouldn’t, you know, if they’re not giving Bobby some outrageous chants, then I don’t think Bobby would have been running 100 yards. He had to come off afterwards. He was very tired.”
Read more of what he said HERE.
Newport’s Hayden Mullins said, as per the club website: “It seemed to have everything; loads of all the ingredients you’d want for a local derby.
“I think both teams went for it, I don’t think we’re the type of team to sit off and try to protect.
“When I saw my team two goals down still going for the game i knew we were in a good place.
“I thought our first half performance was excellent, we were unlucky not to be a couple of goals up.
“We wanted to start fast, we wanted to be aggressive and progress and get around the ball.
“Harrison Biggins had a lovely shot, dipped, hits the post. Doidge had a really good chance from the side as well as in the box and Shaq had an opportunity to hit the target.
“I saw my team today do exactly what I asked them to do, I want to be front footed, I want to be positive, just take the game to Bristol which we did.
“We were open and a couple of the goals were really, really soft.
“I think what you did see is us hit the team that didn’t feel sorry for themselves, the team that were front footed and kept going and carving out chances right before the end.
“I think the fifth goal is just a formality.
“We were going for the game so that’s on me, the goalkeeper goes up and we try to get the equaliser. I think if it goes in there then it’s a brave move.”
“There’s always lessons to be learned. Even the game last week, there was lessons that we took out of the game.
“I was saying to the boys you know, we’re a bit slow, we’ve got to believe that we’re a strong side, we’re front footed and we’re aggressive and a unit and we showed that in the first half.
“We’ve got to take positives, and we’ve got to take bits from the game now, we need to move forward.”
Here’s how social media users reacted after Bobby Kamwa celebrates in front of the fans of his former club Newport in an eight goal thriller at Bristol Rovers…
@NCAFCThoughts: Kamwa thing was inevitable. Pointless even discussing it but that’s his legacy destroyed at Newport. We deserved to lose overall and at times it was an onslaught. But we showed character to keep coming back at them. It was a great game and a good advert for League Two.
@JamesUTG: Finally have an attack that’s exciting to watch 🪄 Bobby Kamwa legend status already
@trotmantom7: Electric by the Gas today, made the trip up to York a thing of the past now. Defensively need to be a lot better but the attacking football was superb, think we were really well connected in areas and Kamwa doing an Adebayor was such a highlight 😂
@weeksy11: Bobby Kamwa…… rovers folklore…. full length of the pitch. WHAT A BOY
@NEWA69: Great start by Newport County but some poor goals conceded. Today a decent performance by County unlike previous years. Kamwa running the length of the pitch to celebrate his goal against us in front of the County fans, clown of the day. We have some fight in this team. UTC! 🖤💛
@thatchersend: Kamwa doing an Adebayor at the Mem is up there with one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed
@MartinD1883: Gough, Kamwa, Cavegn, Leigh, brilliant. What a performance 2nd half. Our defence is a problem, but today I don’t care. Bobby Kamwa doing an Adebayor is some humble pie for Newport. Enjoy your weekends, Gasheads!!!!!!! #UTG
@LucccyAshcroft: Cracking game fought until the end. As for Kamwa lost a lot of respect, there was no need for that. He will also lose respect from his ex team mates after that. Anyway on to the next game, UTC 🔶◼️
Bobby Kamwa runs the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of his former side, Newport County 😂#UTG ⛽️ | #BristolRovers 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/4sfmEXyUts
— Joshua Hemmings (@_joshuahemmings) August 22, 2026
Bobby Kamwa hates Newport pass it on
Up the ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/6z3ucAgtPM— ƒordy ⚔️ (@JoeFord3) August 22, 2026
