HARD LUCK, HARRY!

It’s my Cup dream to say that to the Spurs striker says Newport fourth-round hero Amond...

PADRAIG AMOND is hoping to leave Wembley tonight with a handshake from Harry Kane.

The Newport striker scored in the first game, but was doing post-match media duties and missed the chance to meet the Tottenham forward.

But tonight he cheekily hopes Kane – even if he doesn’t play – will be around to congratulate Newport on a Cup shock and wish him well for the next round! Amond said: “When the game was finished, I got dragged off for an interview with BT Sport in the other corner of the ground. I

thought I was heading for the dressing room when it was over, but then had to do BBC Radio, Match of the Day and bein Sports – then it was a station in Qatar, one in Dubai, Fox Italy and Fox America.

“By the time I got back, every single one of our lads had gone, never mind catching up with Harry Kane or any of the Tottenham players!

“It would be great to have interaction with him, but I hope it’s to shake his hand and say, ‘Hard luck’, and that he’s saying, ‘Best of luck in the next round’.” More than 7,200 Exiles fans will make the pilgrimage to Wembley for tonight’s fourth-round replay, and ‘Podge’ will reflect on a remarkable season which began with him losing at non-league Maidenhead with relegated Hartlepool.

In Amond’s home town of Carlow, about 50 miles south of Dublin, Tully’s bar screened Newport’s 1-1 draw with Mauricio Pochettino’s side with the offer of a free pint for customers if he scored. Amond, 29, cost the landlord a packet – and now

he is warning Spurs not to take Newport for granted.

He said: “I’ve watched my goal back a few hundred times and I’m still not tired of it, but I refuse to watch Harry Kane’s equaliser.

“The good thing about going to Wembley is that we have quite a lot of experience in the squad of playing there and being successful.

“I played there twice with Grimsby – we won promotion to the Football League in 2016 and, a week later, went back there and got beat in the FA Trophy final.

“But it’s not every day you get to play at Wembley against a team like Tottenham.

“To win there is an unbelievable feeling, and I hope I can taste it again. This time last year, we were dead and buried as a club. It was Newport plus one to go down and fall out of the league.

“I was on the receiving end, and it was devastating, when Mark O’brien scored that last-minute goal which kept Newport in the league and Hartlepool went down.

“It shows you never take anything for granted in football – in six months, this club has gone from almost dropping out of the Football League to coming within eight minutes of knocking Tottenham out of the FA Cup.”

One player who won’t be lining up for the Exiles at Wembley is midfielder Sean Rigg, whose contract was cancelled by mutual consent this week – so he can pursue a career as a tattoo artist.

They ink it’s all over? It is now.