Newport vs Manchester United LIVE: FA Cup result, final score and reaction as United narrowly avoid cup upset
Newport County 2-4 Manchester United: Erik ten Hag’s side avoid cup upset after second-half strikes from Antony and Rasmus Hojlund
Manchester United saw off a spirited Newport County comeback to book their place in the FA Cup fifth round with a 4-2 win at Rodney Parade.
Erik ten Hag’s side flew out of the traps with goals from Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo after just 13 minutes but were pinned back late on in the first half after Bryn Morris’ superb long-range effort.
The League Two side then found an equaliser after the break after a tidy finish from the in-form Will Evans as the home side threatened a huge FA Cup upset on home soil. But Antony’s rebound before Hojlund’s injury-time strike ensured that United survived the scare and progressed to the fifth round.
Relive all the match action and post-match reaction below.
GOAL! Newport County 0-1 Manchester United (Fernandes, 7 mins)
United with the early breakthrough!
Just the start the away side would have been after. A nice one-two between Antony and Fernandes down the left sees the ball drop back to the Portuguese international on the edge of the box and he makes no mistake, smashing home to give his side the lead.
Newport County 0-0 Manchester United
3 mins: Antony is given far too much space as he cuts in from the right but the Brazillian’s effort goes just wide of the far post.
KICK-OFF! Newport County 0-0 Manchester United
And we are underway here in Wales as Newport get the first half started.
Closing in on kick-off
We’ve got just over five minutes to go until kick-off at Rodney Parade and the atmosphere is building nicely. Has this FA Cup fourth round got one more shock left in it?
Newport eyeing up a shock
It wouldn’t quite best Maidstone’s achievement yesterday but a win today would see Newport through to the fifth round for just the third time in the club’s history. The Welsh club have progressed from just two of their previous eight FA Cup fourth-round ties, doing so in their first (vs Huddersfield in 1948-49) and most recent such fixtures (vs Middlesbrough in 2018-19).
Erik ten Hag adresses Marcus Rashford absence
Reports have been swirling in the last few days regarding Marcus Rashford who is not in today’s matchday squad. The United boss was fairly tight-lipped when asked about it pre-match: “It’s an internal matter”. “I will deal with it”, he said.
History in the making
This will be the first ever competitive meeting between Newport County and Manchester United. The Exiles have won just one of their last 23 meetings with top-flight opponents in all competitions (D7 L15), beating Leicester City 2-1 in the FA Cup in 2018-19.
Man Utd in ‘no position to underestimate any team’ heading into Newport cup tie
Erik ten Hag says Manchester United are not in a position to underestimate any opponent as his stumbling side look to keep their hopes of silverware alive in Sunday’s FA Cup clash at Newport.
This has been a challenging second season in the hotseat for the Dutchman, whose side languish eighth in the Premier League and were eliminated from European competition before Christmas.
United’s Carabao Cup defence is also long since over, meaning the FA Cup takes on extra significance as their only potential route to a trophy in a disappointing campaign.
Man Utd in ‘no position to underestimate any team’ heading into Newport cup tie
The FA Cup is United’s last chance of silverware this season.
Man City break the Spurs curse late on
Finally, the curse was lifted. Manchester City are a magnificent team, the rightful champions of Europe and the world, but on this rectangular patch of ground in north London they have been a mixture of unfortunate, underwhelming and comically inept. Before tonight they had played five games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and lost them all, never even scoring a goal despite accumulating an xG of about 375. For 88 minutes here history rhymed, until Nathan Ake’s bundled late winner, a game won in the most un-Cityish of ways.
Pep Guardiola had been getting increasingly irate, so much so that he was booked for sarcastically applauding referee Paul Tierney during the second half of this FA Cup tie. He would have recognised some similar traits of games that had gone before here, in which City created chance after chance but could not alter the scoreboard. An early goal was chalked off by the barest of margins; Julian Alvarez, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku all missed prime chances.
But where Guardiola had come against stubborn defensive units in the past, deliberately designed to annoy him by Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte, this Ange Postecoglou team was never going to play that way. Tottenham tried to play their way, but they never managed to gain control and ultimately their open gameplan failed, albeit at the very last, at a corner, when so much hard work had been done. City won 1-0 and the defending champions will be in the hat for the fifth round.
Lawrence Ostlere from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium:
Manchester City finally lift the curse to knock Tottenham out the FA Cup
Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Manchester City: Nathan Ake’s late bundled winner sealed this fourth-round win with City’s first goal in Spurs’ new stadium
Chelsea and Aston Villa set for FA Cup replay
Two Premier League teams who will face a replay to be in the fifth round are Chelsea and Aston Villa - here’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney and his assessment from the Stamford Bridge stalemate.
Chelsea and Aston Villa set for FA Cup replay after goalless stalemate
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