Fourth-tier Newport stun Premier League Leicester 2-1 in FA Cup

06 Jan, 2019

It had seemed that visitors Leicester, seventh in the Premier League and top-flight champions in 2016, would leave Rodney Parade with a draw when Rachid Ghezzal's shot eight minutes from time cancelled out Jamille Matt's 10th-minute header.

But, with five minutes left, Newport were awarded a penalty after Leicester's Marc Albrighton inexplicably raised his arm to block a cross into the box and Padraig Amond made no mistake from the spot to spark delirious scenes among the Welsh club's supporters.

"It's a little bit surreal at the moment," Matt told the BBC after Newport's first FA Cup win against a top-tier club since they beat Sheffield Wednesday in the third round back in the 1963/64 season.

"We all fight for each other and we deserved it. We knew that to get a good result we'd have to be on it one to 11 and today we were.

"I'm absolutely buzzing for the fans. Absolutely buzzing."

Leicester manager Claude Puel praised Newport by saying: "The first thing is congratulations, well done to this team. They believed in themselves and created the upset.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Press), 2019
 

 

 

Read Comments