Mauricio Pochettino was wary of the Welsh side after they came very close to shocking Spurs at home, before eventually forcing a replay and a trip to London. He named a strong side with only, Harry Kane, Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen the noticeable names missing - the latter of whom came on for the last half an hour.

Newport started brightly and gave a good account of themselves in the opening twenty minutes before bad luck took the game away from them.

Moussa Sissoko, who had a cross from a similar position hit behind by Danny Rose only a couple of minutes earlier, was played in down the right. He fired a low cross into the box and it hit the first man, Dan Butler, who could do nothing but watch as ‘keeper Tom Day was wrong footed and the ball rolled in.

The second goal came soon after. Neat footwork from Son Heung-Min played in Erik Lamela, back in the starting lineup after a long injury layoff, who finished smartly for his first goal in five hundred and four days.

The second half saw Tottenham miss a hatful of chances to put the game to bed - Dele Alli saw an effort hit the bar while Fernando Llorente somehow put wide with the goal at his mercy.

7 February 2018

No more goals were forthcoming however and the tie finished 2-0. Tottenham go through as deserved winners and will face Rochdale in the next round. For Newport, they can take solace in the fact that they were by no means embarrassed, but with the playoffs only five points out of reach perhaps it will be best for them to concentrate on the league.

Dan Butler

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