NEWPORT EARN WEMBLEY REPLAY
Misfits of Newport are heading to Wembley as they hold mighty Spurs
THEY hung on and they hung on, men who had given everything, men who had played as if they had iron in their bones and molten steel running through their veins. They hung on to their lead because they knew this was their shot, this was their 90 minutes, this was their redemption and their moment. This was their glimpse of immortality.
One- nil since seven minutes before half-time against the mighty Spurs, 1-0 up against Harry Kane, who might cost Real Madrid £200 million this summer, 1-0 up against Mauricio Pochettino and Dele Alli and Eric Dier, 1- 0 up against the first Premier League team who has ever ventured across the Severn Bridge down here to the banks of the River Usk.
They are a team of misfits, this Newport side, lads who have never quite been able to make it big. But last night they conjured something primeval out of the dank South Wales evening. They came so close, so close. Eight minutes stood between them and one of the greatest of FA Cup upsets. And then Kane stepped in.
But still they have a replay to look forward to now. Another stack of money in their coffers. Another chance to be heroes. ‘Wemb-er-lee,’ the Newport fans sang as their fans saluted them at the end. ‘We’re the famous Newport County and we’re going to Wemb-er-lee.’
What a night this was. A night that ranks alongside anything that has happened here in the past, even the time in 1981 when Newport played Carl Zeiss Jena in the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup at their old ground, Somerton Park. That was before the fall, of course. That was before their world fell apart and they went out of business. Next year, it will be 30 years since Newport County went bust with debts of £330,000.
They were expelled from the Conference for failing to fulfil their fixtures and exiled from Somerton Park, which stood a couple of miles from Rodney Parade but was demolished and t urned i nto a housing estate. It was a long way back. The club reformed and played its first season in the Hellenic League, four divisions below the Football League. They played in the Gloucestershire town of Moretoni n- Marsh at first and t hen at Gloucester City’s Meadow Park ground before they moved back to Newport in the mid-1990s. In 2013, they finally regained the Football League status they had lost 25 years earlier.
And all of it led to a night like this. A night when a group of lads, some of whom live together in a terraced house across the road from the ground and have been walking home from training, past fans sleeping in their cars so they can queue early for tickets for this tie, took on Tottenham and came within eight minutes of a beautiful upset.
They were first to everything for 45 minutes. They played as if they would not be denied. They should have gone ahead in the fourth minute. As the home team hassled and harried and pressed, Kyle Walker- Peters played Dier into trouble on the edge of his own area. Dier was dispossessed by Newport skipper Joss Labadie. He chased the loose ball towards the byline and pulled it back across goal towards Frank Nouble, who met it 15 yards out. He leaned back and hit it high over the bar.
But the energy and the fury of Newport’s play was relentless. They refused to let Spurs settle. Scot Bennett ran on to a flick and hooked a shot just wide. A drive from Labadie stung the hands of Michel Vorm. A curling free-kick from Robbie Willmott just eluded Padraig Amond’s head and was gathered uneasily by the Spurs keeper.
When Spurs did manage to mount a foray forward, Kane lifted one of his trademark sidefoots high over the bar and got the biggest jeer of the day. But 15 minutes before half- time, he provided a neat reminder of his danger, clipping a cross against the post.
But Newport pressed on. Seven minutes before half-time, Spurs failed to deal with a long throw by Ben Tozer and it fell to Willmott on the edge of the box. He curled a cross to the back post and Amond rose highest to direct his header down and past Vorm.
After the break, though, some of the energy seemed to have drained out of Newport. Perhaps that was inevitable. The introduction of Son Heung-min for Walker-Peters made a difference and, for the first time, Newport began to wobble. They were given a let-off 12 minutes into t he second half when Kieran Trippier curled in a cross which presented Kane with a golden opportunity to level. Kane rose highest but then the goal-machine malfunctioned, his header looping up on to the roof of the net. But Spurs started to turn the screw. Midway through the half, substitute Alli played in Son with a simple ball and he drilled his shot towards the corner. It looked a certain goal but Joe Day stuck out his left leg and diverted it over the bar. It was a superb save. It was also Spurs’ first shot on target. But Tottenham’ s class was beginning to tell. And with eight minutes left Newport’ s resistance finally crumbled. Spurs forced a corner, Son flicked it on at the near post and Kane was waiting at the back post to prod the ball home. The crowd was silent. One dream was over but another one is about to begin. For the misfits, Wembley beckons.