Ellison suffers facial injuries after being attacked on Newport County night out

Newport County veteran Kevin Ellison has been left with facial injuries after being attacked on a night out.

The 42-year-old midfielder requires surgery on the injury, which is set to see him stay on the sidelines for around two months.

The incident happened in Bristol city centre in the early hours of Sunday, December 12.

Ellison and the rest of his Newport teammates had been given the go-ahead to enjoy a night out in the city following their 2-1 win over Port Vale in League Two earlier on Saturday.

County boss James Rowberry has spoken about the incident.

He said: "Kevin was attacked over the weekend and sustained facial injuries that will leave him out for a period of time.

"It's now under investigation but Kevin is okay, I have spoken to him every other day and he is in the safe hands of the medical team.

"It was a players' night out, Kevin hasn't done anything wrong. It was only him involved.

"He is probably looking at six to eight weeks but he is still his chirpy self, which is a good thing.

"He is still able to talk, chat and give me and the rest of the lads a bit of stick, so he is okay."

Veteran Ellison has featured 14 times for the League Two side this season, having joined them in 2020.

He has one goal to his name so far this season. That was a late winner on the opening day, away at Oldham Athletic in a 1-0 win.

He came off the bench for a late cameo in the win over Port Vale last week but is now expected to be out until February next year.

Ellison, whose former clubs include Leicester City, Morecambe and Rotherham, attracted headlines earlier this year for his over-the-top celebration when scoring against the Shrimpers.

He screamed in the face of then Morecambe boss Derek Adams immediately after scoring.

Adams had deemed Ellison surplus to requirements and brought to an end his nine-year stay with the club - and Ellison made sure his old boss knew just how much the goal meant to him.

He said: "Maybe people will say it was written in the stars. I was quite happy with it as you could see from my celebration.

"The way Derek Adams treated me was disrespectful, so why not. I'm glad Newport got the result and I owed them one.

"Newport County put food on the table for me and my kids so that's where my loyalties lie.

"It was the way he (Adams) went about saying things. If he had been honest enough, and man enough, to tell me 'I don't fancy you, you're 41, go and find a club', I'd have respected him for that.

"But he didn't. He did things behind my back, but it came back to bite him on Saturday, didn't it?"