We’ll play rugby ahead of FA Cup tie!
NEWPORT County striker Padraig Amond has joked that the League Two side should ensure a rugby game is played at their Rodney Parade ground ahead of their FA Cup fifth-round tie against City a week on Saturday.
Middlesbrough joined Leicester City on the growing list of side higher up the football pyramid to suffer defeat in south Wales, after Tottenham were held to a draw against the Exiles on their notoriously difficult pitch last season. Pro 14 rugby side Newport Dragons play some of their home games at the 7,850-capacity stadium, with the pitch often lumpy when football resumes.
City’s trip to south Wales will represent one of the more difficult FA Cup assignments that Pep Guardiola has faced during his reign at the Etihad Stadium and Amond, who scored Newport’s second against Boro on Tuesday night, says they will do all they can to make the Blues’ trip as uncomfortable as possible.
“We have to use all the advantages we can get, the bobbly pitch - we have to use that,” the Irish forward, who has scored 18 goals this season, said.
“I think we should try and get a couple (of rugby fixtures) on there. We might get a rugby game on to make it interesting.”
City were knocked out of the competition with defeat away at Wigan, then of League One, last season, as Guardiola’s charge for an unprecedented quadruple fell at an unlikely hurdle.
Guardiola admitted earlier this month that City ‘cannot drop any competition’ if ‘we want to become a top, top club’, but Amond says the League Two side will present a banana skin in City’s bid for a first cup success since 2011.
“It’s going to be tough for (City),” he said. “They won’t be used to it. It’s a different challenge, even for the best players in the world.”