Sunday's game is the County's 8th match against Premier League opposition, with 7 of them occuring after Mike Flynn took charge in 2017 :- West Brom, Tottenham (home & away), Leicester, Man City, West Ham, Newcastle and Brighton. An impressive record.

Hopefully the pitch will be playable by Sunday evening. I wonder how many changes Brighton will make, with Man City waiting for them a few days later at the Etihad. They may think they've no chance at Man City and play a strong side against us. The County of course will have to make at least 2 changes, with Twine and Cooper no longer with us. Will it be Townsend or King in goal?

The County has played Brighton 67 times, starting in 1921 in Division 3 South (W18, D12 & L37). We've only played them twice since 1966, including that memorable victory at Brighton in 2013 in the League Cup.

Oh that we could be there to witness another great occasion. The match is on BT Sport 1 (channel 527 on Virgin Media).

Just how much the lads want it
No crowd
Expectations by us high
Good Cup reputation
WE CAN DO IT

It's a bit of dilemma.

The temperature is dropping and will be around freezing point on Sunday night.

The Dragons (currently) are still playing at RP on Saturday.

Should be now ask the FA and B&HA to switch the game to the Amex Stadium or take our chances on it still being at RP?

My Brighton-supporting colleague is in little doubt we'll pretty much be playing their reserves

Willthiswork wrote:It's a bit of dilemma.

The temperature is dropping and will be around freezing point on Sunday night.

The Dragons (currently) are still playing at RP on Saturday.

Should be now ask the FA and B&HA to switch the game to the Amex Stadium or take our chances on it still being at RP?

Not sure if it would be allowed to be swapped to the Amex? I have no doubt it will be an advantage for us to play at home. Understand the anxiety about the playability of RP come Sunday night as the weather forecast would appear to suggest that the ground will thaw during the day, but there is a real possibility of the pitch freezing during the game and therefore being abandoned.
The priority of course has to be the securing of the TV money.

Whilst we wouldn't have done it for Exeter or Southend there is logic in spending on temporary heating solution to ensure we don't postpone and lose the TV money.

Collars wrote:Whilst we wouldn't have done it for Exeter or Southend there is logic in spending on temporary heating solution to ensure we don't postpone and lose the TV money.

Would agree, if indeed that can be done; but not sure there is anything that can prevent the pitch from freezing whilst the game is in progress?

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote:

Collars wrote:Whilst we wouldn't have done it for Exeter or Southend there is logic in spending on temporary heating solution to ensure we don't postpone and lose the TV money.

Would agree, if indeed that can be done; but not sure there is anything that can prevent the pitch from freezing whilst the game is in progress?

Other than a bit of heavy breathing probably not but hopefully enough heat into it beforehand would delay the freezing. When I win the Euromillions I promise to install undersoil heating in our brand new stadium!

The weather forecast isn't looking very hopeful. Saturday night / Sunday morning the temperature is forecast to drop to -4C. Sunday night when the match is due to be played it will be +2C.

Aston Villa v Liverpool called off due to covid. Let's see if they award Liverpool the tie.

Blackandamber wrote:The weather forecast isn't looking very hopeful. Saturday night / Sunday morning the temperature is forecast to drop to -4C. Sunday night when the match is due to be played it will be +2C.

Looks like the frost could get into it during the rugby match Saturday. Not sure whether covering a frozen pitch will do much good.

Exile 1976 wrote:Aston Villa v Liverpool called off due to covid. Let's see if they award Liverpool the tie.

If that’s true I think that is just the first of many. The decision to call off elite football will soon be taken out of anybody’s hand. There will be no fit players left at this rate.

pembsexile wrote:

Exile 1976 wrote:Aston Villa v Liverpool called off due to covid. Let's see if they award Liverpool the tie.

If that’s true I think that is just the first of many. The decision to call off elite football will soon be taken out of anybody’s hand. There will be no fit players left at this rate.

Can't see the FA awarding any games to the opponents, they haven't done it so far in the FA Premier League so why would they do it in the FA Cup. I would suspect that the lawyers are waiting tho'...

We have installed a dome to protect the pitch

https://www.newport-county.co.uk/news/2 ... ome-cover/

Snowman wrote:We have installed a dome to protect the pitch

https://www.newport-county.co.uk/news/2 ... ome-cover/

Good news will they have blowers blowing warm air I wonder or is it just a cover