Match ends, Newport County 1, Tottenham Hotspur 1.
NewportNewport County1TottenhamTottenham Hotspur1
Mauricio Pochettino has said his Tottenham side, who were held by Newport County in the FA Cup, missed a "massive opportunity" to show they want to win a trophy this season.
Padraig Amond's header gave Newport the lead in the first half before Harry Kane's 82nd minute equaliser kept Spurs in the competition that they have won eight times.
Spurs have not lifted a major trophy since winning the League Cup in 2008.
"The team didn't really show they want to go next stage of the FA Cup. That is what has disappointed us," Pochettino said.
"The theory is to win trophies, and it's easy to talk about that. But I think we missed a massive opportunity to show we really want to win a trophy."
With Spurs having avoided a seismic Cup upset, Newport's heroic display will be rewarded with a lucrative replay at Wembley.
Kane captained a strong Spurs side, but they were rattled by a fervent performance from the League Two side and riotous atmosphere at Rodney Parade, which erupted when Amond headed the hosts in front.
After a dreadful first half, the visitors improved and dominated after the break and had several chances to equalise, with Kane heading over and Son Heung-min being denied by a fine save from Joe Day before Kane tapped in at the back post.
"We were very disappointing in the first half and it was only the last 30 minutes we started to play and create some chances," the Spurs manager added.
"I've heard in my years here that the FA Cup between a Premier League team and a League Two team is magic. But if I'm honest, I didn't see much difference."
Although victory against Premier League opponents who are 72 places above them in the football pyramid would have represented arguably the greatest result in Newport's history, a profitable replay at Wembley is an excellent consolation.
Having defied the odds to beat Championship side Leeds in the third round, the Exiles still have hopes of reaching the fifth round - with the chance of causing another shock - for the first time since 1949.
For Spurs, meanwhile, this was a major embarrassment narrowly avoided against a team who only preserved their Football League status with victory on the final day of last season.
"I'm gutted because we conceded so late in the game," Newport manager Mike Flynn said. "But they are a quality side and in the second half we couldn't really get at them.
"Wembley is something else for the club to look forward to. We were nearly there, we could taste it but we switched off [for] one minute."
Tottenham's culture shock
This was a culture shock for Tottenham, swapping the bowling green pitch and plush facilities of Wembley for the cramped changing rooms at Rodney Parade, the modest 140-year-old stadium their opponents share with two rugby teams.
Spurs were the first top flight team to play a competitive game in Newport since 1986, three years before the old Newport County went out of business.
This was the furthest the phoenix club - formed months later - have ever been in the competition and a record crowd for a football game of almost 10,000 crammed into the temporarily expanded ground to create a raucous atmosphere.
The hostility seemed to unsettle Spurs and, after three minutes, Eric Dier was dispossessed by Joss Labadie, whose low cross found an unmarked Frank Nouble, but his wild first-time effort flew high and wide.
That opportunity fuelled Newport's belief and they harassed their underperforming opponents, with captain Labadie the hosts' driving force in midfield.
One of his surging runs set the Exiles up for their opening goal. Spurs failed to clear a subsequent long throw and Robbie Willmott's deep cross was nodded in at the back post by Amond to spark deafening celebrations.
Even as Tottenham forced their way back into the tie in the second half, the Rodney Parade faithful continued to roar their encouragement, sensing their team were on the cusp of a historic result.
Kane's equaliser momentarily silenced the home fans but they were soon back at full volume and, at the final whistle, there was another eruption as Newport's supporters looked forward to the trip to Wembley, which their side's performance richly deserved.
Spurs avoid a shock
Tottenham's strong team selection was significant, demonstrating their respect for Newport and the FA Cup itself, perhaps their best hope of winning a first trophy for a decade.
Kane started for the second round in succession, having scored two goals as Spurs saw off Wimbledon in their previous outing in this competition.
The 24-year-old has struck 128 goals in 194 appearances for Spurs - but is yet to win a trophy.
Former striker Gary Lineker believes Tottenham face a "watershed moment" and, with the team fifth in the Premier League and facing Italian champions Juventus in the last 16 of the Champions League next month, the FA Cup could be their likeliest chance of silverware this season.
Lifting the trophy at their temporary Wembley home seemed a distant prospect during a first half at Rodney Parade in which Spurs were dreadfully sloppy.
With the exception of a Kane shot tipped on to the post by Joe Day, the visitors were way off the pace before the half-time introduction of Son brought some much-needed urgency to their performance.
And as Tottenham cranked up the pressure, there was a sense of inevitability to their equaliser.
Kane profited from Son's brilliant flick and, although this display was well below the standard Mauricio Pochettino has come to expect from his players, the manager's overriding emotion will be one of relief that his side could still make the FA Cup the first trophy of his tenure.
Man of the match - Joss Labadie (Newport County)
Line-ups
Newport
Formation 4-5-1
- 1Day
- 2Pipe
- 6White
- 28Demetriou
- 3Butler
- 7Willmott
- 12Tozer
- 4LabadieBooked at 32minsSubstituted forDolanat 84'minutes
- 17Bennett
- 10Nouble
- 9AmondSubstituted forMcCoulskyat 74'minutes
Substitutes
- 8Dolan
- 15McCoulsky
- 19Reid
- 25O'Brien
- 30Bittner
- 31Sheehan
- 39Hayes
Tottenham
Formation 3-1-4-2
- 13Vorm
- 21FoythBooked at 87mins
- 15Dier
- 5Vertonghen
- 12Wanyama
- 2Trippier
- 17Sissoko
- 19DembéléSubstituted forDaviesat 81'minutes
- 37Walker-PetersSubstituted forSon Heung-Minat 45'minutes
- 18LlorenteSubstituted forAlliat 66'minutes
- 10Kane
Substitutes
- 6D Sánchez
- 7Son Heung-Min
- 20Alli
- 22Gazzaniga
- 33Davies
- 42Georgiou
- 46Oakley-Boothe
- Referee:
- Roger East
- Attendance:
- 9,836
Match Stats
Home TeamNewportAway TeamTottenham
- Possession
- Home29%
- Away71%
- Shots
- Home8
- Away15
- Shots on Target
- Home3
- Away2
- Corners
- Home2
- Away7
- Fouls
- Home11
- Away8
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Newport County 1, Tottenham Hotspur 1.
Post update
Corner, Tottenham Hotspur. Conceded by Dan Butler.
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Corner, Tottenham Hotspur. Conceded by Ben White.
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Attempt blocked. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is blocked. Assisted by Kieran Trippier.
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Corner, Newport County. Conceded by Jan Vertonghen.
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Offside, Newport County. Joe Day tries a through ball, but Shawn McCoulsky is caught offside.
Booking
Juan Foyth (Tottenham Hotspur) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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Foul by Juan Foyth (Tottenham Hotspur).
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Matthew Dolan (Newport County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Corner, Tottenham Hotspur. Conceded by Ben Tozer.
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Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick on the right wing.
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Foul by Shawn McCoulsky (Newport County).
Substitution
Substitution, Newport County. Matthew Dolan replaces Joss Labadie.
Goal!
Goal! Newport County 1, Tottenham Hotspur 1. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from very close range to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Son Heung-Min following a corner.
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Corner, Tottenham Hotspur. Conceded by Ben White.
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Attempt blocked. Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
Substitution
Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Ben Davies replaces Mousa Dembélé.
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Attempt missed. Victor Wanyama (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Dele Alli.
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Mousa Dembélé (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Comments
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As for the fans, they can look forward to beer at £7 a pint, burgers north of £10 each and eye-watering ticket prices...
We were Crap yesterday.
Dire performance against a lesser team and lucky to still be in it.....when you go to these sort of places you need to be prepared to tough it out and show some metal ....its the least the fans who paid out good money to travel to the match expect
I thought they played Tottenham,a good side, but far far from one of Europe's elite clubs
Second half better although didn’t create that many good chances - maybe it’s tough to see them from behind the sofa. Not enjoyable Saturday evening viewing.
Although probably better than L4 OTH’s evening :)
West Ham and Liverpool. Biggest issue now is yet another game in a very crowded calendar. Bigger squad needed.
2 minutes ago
The “ reliable bottlers”get a draw after going behind at Newport, the “ unreliable bottlers” lost to Nottingham Forest
Reliable bottlers would mean you can rely on them too bottle it
Unreliable bottlers would mean you can't rely on them too bottle it
So you confirm spurs are worse
unreliable explains a lot, and describes Farcinal well
Well i think almost 100 consecutive years in the top flight of English football sounds like a reliable team to me.
Respect to Spurs for dodging the bullet. - sometimes it doesn't matter how.
As a United fan I am just pleased Yeovil didn't score first in our tie (they probably just about deserved to!) - getting away from these banana skin ties without losing is a good result.
By the way - what on earth is happening with Alli?
Just had a look at the OFFICIAL UEFA ALL TIME RANKINGS and it seems EUFA think he's a Deluded Spud, Arsenal ranked 10th and Tinpottenham are ranked 83rd.
does that mean Arsenal are ranked 73 places above one of the 14 Elite European clubs.
Deluded Spuds are the funniest thing on the BBC and they're not even payed out of my licence fee
As I said typical Spuds fan,what have you won the last 10 years. In your history record it shows trophys won,not who we pushed,or who we beat in a one off game.PLEASE ANSER MY ORIGINAL QUESTION WHAT HAVE YOU WON THE LAST TEN YEARS,A REPLY IS NOT INVITED,AS ZERO WILL BE THE ANSWER.THANK YOU