Newport bow out with heads held high

– Tottenham Hotspur finally ended lowly Newport County’s brave FA Cup run with a 2-0 win in a fourth-round replay at Wembley on Wednesday night.

Eight-time winners Spurs were just eight minutes away from a humiliating exit when England striker Harry Kane scored to salvage a 1-1 draw away to fourth-tier Newport last month.

But it was a different story at Wembley where, with Son Heung-Min (left) impressing for Tottenham, Dan Butler’s 26th-minute own goal and an Erik Lamela strike eight minutes later put Spurs 2-0 up before half-time.

Tottenham will now travel to third-tier strugglers Rochdale for a last-16 tie on the weekend of February 17 and 18.

“It’s the FA Cup and it’s difficult,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino told the BBC. “But I am happy because we wanted to be in the next round.

“Son Heung-Min is doing fantastically this season and he feels important.

“It is important to keep going and winning games. We are going to be very busy in the Premier League, Champions League and the FA Cup but we want to keep this run going.”

Meanwhile, Newport manager Michael Flynn praised the visitors’ performance.

“It was a good start in the first 25 minutes, but the manner of the goal, the way it went in, took it out of the boys and deflated them,” he said. – AFP