FA CUP
Facing likes of Man United has become the norm for Newport


If Newport County fans seem blasé about the prospect of their club facing Manchester United in the FA Cup this weekend it may be because high-profile ties have become the norm for them. This is the tenth time in the past seven seasons that the Welsh club have been drawn to face Premier League opposition in the FA Cup or League Cup, which is three more such ties than for any other League One or Two team in that period (discounting any campaigns when those clubs were outside the bottom two tiers — Newport themselves have been in League Two for each of those seven seasons).

Furthermore, the match against Erik ten Hag’s side on Sunday is the ninth time in those ten ties in which Newport have been drawn at home. Regulars at Rodney Parade have already seen Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Manchester City, West Ham United, Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Southampton and Brentford come to visit.

League One and League Two teams must get through one round in the League Cup or two in the FA Cup to stand a chance of facing Premier League clubs, so Newport have needed to show consistency in the early stages. However, Manchester United will take comfort from the fact that while the Welsh club are accustomed to facing top-flight opposition, they are not familiar with beating them, having eliminated only one of their nine such opponents — Leicester — since 2017.

League One/Two clubs with at least five top-flight opponents in FA Cup/League Cup since 2017:
Newport

2017-18: FA Cup: Tottenham (h) D1-1 (replay: L2-0). 2018-19: FA Cup: Leicester (h) W2-1, Man City (h) L4-1. 2019-20: League Cup: West Ham (h) L2-0. 2020-21: League Cup: Newcastle (h) D1-1 (lost on pens); FA Cup: Brighton (h) D1-1 (lost on pens). 2021-22: League Cup: Southampton (h) L8-0. 2022-23: League Cup: Leicester (a) L3-0. 2023-24: League Cup: Brentford (h) D1-1 (lost on pens); FA Cup: Man Utd (h

By Scot Bennett, Newport County defender

Rodney Parade has become precarious for bigger sides and we believe we can produce another giant-killing when Manchester United arrive for the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday. In the past six years Newport County have embarrassed Leicester City, Middlesbrough and Leeds United, were eight minutes from adding Tottenham Hotspur, and goalless at half-time with Manchester City.

I played in the ties and we made global headlines thanks to being a bunch of waifs and strays who were in some cases experiencing a new life. There was a winger who stacked supermarket shelves, a midfielder wanting to show his true self after a ban for biting, another player reformed after being in prison, someone else returning from a serious injury. If there was a comparison we felt like Wimbledon, who reached the final many years before, and everyone willed us on to win with the same optimism that stirred this week.

We are 14th in the fourth tier of English football and the crowd will be more than double our average attendance of about 4,000 with the help of a temporary stand. United will get no favours from those of us, including me and the manager Graham Coughlan, who support them. Rodney Parade is like little else and they are unlikely to fit all the players and staff into the away dressing room.

Back in 2017 our manager Michael Flynn liked to calm nerves in training. We had to chip a ball into a bin on the penalty spot while standing on the halfway line, try to score from a corner without the ball bouncing or score with both shots from the edge of the penalty area. The losers paid a penalty and my forfeit was to do a worm dance move, backwards. Others sang — very badly. Days before we played Leeds, a tumble‑dryer caught fire and burnt down part of our training ground. Instead of the rollicking we had expected for losing a previous game, the gaffer handed us a mop to clean up and then walked us to the local burger van for lunch.


Tottenham Hotspur was a step up, and an hour before kick-off we were in the dressing room and Wayne Hatswell, the assistant manager, began to write their team on the board. Who would they rest? It felt surreal to see Harry Kane’s name go up and stranger still when I stood by him in the tunnel.

The pre-match talk was about whether the bobbly and muddy pitch, owing to hosting rugby union games, would be a leveller. Inside a minute Kane made light of the conditions and whipped a ball wide to Kieran Trippier. A few of us looked at each other, speechless. The next time Kane got near the ball, Joss Labadie floored him with a sliding challenge that galvanised the crowd and we rattled them more when Padraig Amond scored with a header. When Kane equalised, the only thought was: ‘Don’t lose now,’ but the replay was one-sided at Wembley.

The following season we beat Leicester and in the fourth round drew away to Middlesbrough. We could see they didn’t fancy a replay; they turned up looking unhappy at the wet conditions and like they wanted to get back on the bus as quickly as possible. We launched into barbs and mind games in the tunnel, saying: “You don’t fancy this do you, you don’t really want to be down here on a Tuesday night, playing on our pitch.”

A win was never in doubt and the goalkeeper Joe Day cut short the celebrations to rush to the hospital where his wife had gone into labour shortly before kick-off. The headlines and attention were dwarfed by the arrival of City for the fifth-round tie. Pep Guardiola prepared his players for the conditions by making divots in a pitch at the training ground and we were ending our pre-match meeting when we first saw his squad — and he was not messing around.

Flynn used to talk about doing his coaching badges alongside famous people, including Mikel Arteta, who was Pep’s assistant. He showed us text messages from Pep and Mikel wishing him luck and the players were suspicious if they were legit. We had a cup ritual of having dinner at a Jamaican restaurant in the week and this time Flynn did not show up and we were told he was having dinner at Thierry Henry’s house. We suspected a ruse until he walked in with Henry and all the boys had a selfie.

Unfortunately the City side proved just as elusive, I had a difficult time against David Silva, but I added Fernandinho’s shirt to that of James Maddison and Eric Dier. Our fairytale will not end tomorrow.