By Steve Bigham

MILFORD – The Nighthawks secured a much needed 4-0 win at hapless Foran in Milford Tuesday afternoon to up their record to 7-2-3.

The victory helped keep the Nighthawks right in the thick of the eight-team South-West Conference playoff race and kept the door open for a possible seeding as high as third or fourth.

“We’re playing well right now. I’m just hoping we can recover from our bumps and bruises. No one is really hurt, but we need everyone at 100 percent,” noted Coach Brian Neumeyer, who has had to work extra hard to achieve this year’s success. This is a relatively young group of players, many of whom are learning the system as they go along.

Evidence of that inexperience has popped up at various times throughout the season, including last Saturday when Newtown held a 2-0 advantage on Jonathan Law only to settle for a 2-2 tie at home.

“We kind of let down in the second half. They had a lot of energy. Jonathan Law is playing pretty well, but we definitely should not have let them back in,” Neumeyer said. “At halftime, we didn’t think there was anyway they could come back and get two goals on us.”

With three games left, including Thursday’s game with Masuk, Newtown is looking to hit its stride at just the right time. The SWC playoffs begin October 28.

“I think the guys are starting to get it in terms of what it takes to be successful in this league. You can’t go on reputation. This is a completely new group,” Neumeyer said. “We’re not considered one of the best teams, but the Barlow loss is the only black mark. We lost to Bethel 1-0 and we had three ties, but the Barlow game was the only game that I thought we should not have won.”

At Foran, Ryan Tracy scored his first goal of the season five minutes into the game off an assist from Ian Walker. Two minutes later, Walker knocked one past the home team goalie off a pass from Mike Troy.

Newtown took a 3-0 lead 16 minutes into the second half when Brendan Cavanaugh hit Troy for the score. Cavanaugh then closed out the scoring with three minutes left in regulation on a pass from Sean Wilson.

Matt Pachniuk recorded the shutout with six saves.

Newtown took a 2-0 lead on Jonathan Law this past Saturday on goals by Walker and Matt McFadden. Rob Weiss and Mike Troy collected the assists. The Lawmen, also in the thick of the playoff race, pulled off the tie on two quick goals by Travis Flynn at the 65th- and 67th-minute marks of the second half.

Newtown also picked up a win at home against Bunnell October 12 as Colin Armstrong and Troy each scored goals. Armstrong’s goal came off a feed from Alan Popowski at the 17-minute mark of the first half. Troy hit pay dirt at the 85th minute of the second half on a pass from Cavanaugh.

Newtown out shot the Bulldogs 23-2.

Neumeyer credited the fine play of defensive players Popowski, Andrew Smith and Derek Miles.

After Masuk, Newtown heads to Bridgeport next Monday for a shootout with Kolbe-Cathedral. It then closes out the season at home against Pomperaug next Wednesday at 6pm under the lights at the stadium.