(Football news) A dream date with the Red Devils, who defeated Wigan Athletic 2-0 earlier this month, is in store for Graham Coughlan’s club after they defeated Eastleigh 3-1 in a third-round replay.
With Maidstone United, a sixth-tier team, and Oldham Athletic as their rivals in the National League, Newport is now the second-lowest-ranked team remaining in the 2023–24 FA Cup. Both teams hope to host Manchester United at their modest home in round four. Newport advanced past both of these teams.
Ten days later, at the Silverlake Stadium, Coughlan’s team outperformed and outwitted their lower-league rivals, with goals from Aaron Wildig, James Clarke, and Will Evans causing the damage. The ten men from Eastleigh astonishingly held out for a 1-1 draw at Rodney Parade.
Eight times Newport County have competed in the fourth round of the FA Cup, but only twice have the Exiles managed to make it through to the fifth phase – doing so in 1948-49 and 70 years later in 2018-19 – but the form book is on their side ahead of Sunday’s tantalising battle.
Four days after setting up their date with the Red Devils, Newport unexpectedly got the better of the Red Dragons of Wrexham in League Two action, triumphing 1-0 in a bad-tempered contest thanks to a Seb Palmer-Houlden header, stretching their winning run to three matches and their unbeaten streak to seven.
Only six points now separates Newport from the playoff positions in the League Two table, even if their 14th-placed standing is still a relatively unsightly one, and the hosts have only been beaten in one of their last 10 games at Rodney Parade, going without defeat in seven on the trot.
Discontent and disappointment has been prevalent at Old Trafford ever since the 2023-24 campaign commenced for Manchester United and Erik ten Hag, whose job is believed to be secure for the time being, but the scrutiny will ramp up should the Red Devils leave Rodney Parade a beaten team.
A trip to Wigan Athletic for the third round was ostensibly a foregone conclusion from the first whistle, and Man United did what needed to be done thanks to a Diogo Dalot finish and Bruno Fernandes penalty, although the manner of that two-goal success was still not entirely convincing.
Nevertheless, victories by any margin are preferable to battling defeats in the FA Cup, where Manchester United are unbeaten in 28 FA Cup road games against teams competing outside of the top flight, and 49 of their 51 such ties home or away have seen the Red Devils emerge triumphant.
However, Sunday’s affair will represent Man United’s first FA Cup tie in Wales since the 2005 final at the Millennium Stadium, where the Red Devils dominated Arsenal only to be beaten on penalties, and they experienced another dose of North London-inflicted anguish on January 14, taking the lead twice against Tottenham Hotspur but ceding both advantages in a 2-2 draw.
Just two of Manchester United’s last eight contests in all tournaments have seen Ten Hag’s unpredicable team come up trumps, and the Red Devils went winless in five successive away matches before sending Wigan packing. However, a two-week pause should have been accepted with open arms by the 12-time FA Cup winners, who take on Newport in a competitive setting for the very first time on Sunday.
