Right, that’s about all from me. The match report has landed via Ben Fisher who watched a classic FA Cup tie in south Wales and you can read his verdict right here. Manchester United sail soar go into the fifth round.
Thanks and bye!
Say what you like about modern Manchester United, they know how to negotiate an FA Cup tie against minnows from the EFL. Which is something.
9 - Manchester United have reached the fifth round of the FA Cup in nine of the last 10 seasons, only failing to do so in the 2021-22 campaign (eliminated in fourth round). Relief. pic.twitter.com/QHXlHobbfm
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 28, 2024
Erik ten Hag takes the mic with the Beeb:
“First 35 minutes was very comfortable, it should have been 3-0 or 4-0, but then they score out of nothing. After half-time we made a mistake in defensive transition and then we had to start again.
“We controlled the game but maybe then we went a bit slower. They had nothing, really nothing.”
Bruno Fernandes chats to BBC Sport:
“It wasn’t the resulted we wanted. We wanted to win, we got it, but it wasn’t perfect for us. We didn’t want to concede goals.
“We can’t concede a goal and let them have some belief. We had chances to kill them and make it 3-0. But I think we did a great job to close the game after they got some belief.”
On winning the FA Cup: “We have to understand this is our chance to win a trophy this season and we have to give everything to get into the final. The FA Cup means a lot to our fans and the country.”
This was the goal in added time that eased the United nerves late on.
Applause from all four sides of Rodney Parade for the home side, who put in a really plucky performance. A day that most associated with Newport County will not forget in a hurry.
A first #EmiratesFACup goal for Rasmus Højlund 🇩🇰
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 28, 2024
It may have looked an easy finish, but @ManUtd's man has done well there 👏#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/zZyXQdSOyn
FT: Newport 2-4 Manchester United
There’s the full time whistle and a cup tie full of thrills and spills is brought to a close. Manchester United are safely into the fifth round draw – where they’ll play either Bristol City or Nottingham Forest – but Newport County did not disgrace themselves at all.
They battled back from a tricky start, with United 2-0 up and dominating, to give Erik ten Hag’s men a genuine scare after goals from Bryn Morris and Will Evans.
In the end, the superior quality of the Premier League side made the difference, with Antony, Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw all impressive.
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90 mins + 6: The noise is now being made by the small number of travelling United fans but this has been far from easy. After 20 minutes or so, it looked exactly that, but a mini-implosion in the middle of the game almost gave us the upset.
Here comes Jonny Evans to help the visitors see the game out.
GOAL! Newport 2-4 Manchester United (Hojlund, 90+4)
They’ve finally sealed it and it’s Hojlund who is Jonny on the spot.
McTominay almost played it through to Forson and, as the bodies came in to block, it fell for the Dane to tuck it safely home and wrap up the tie.
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93 mins: Bayindir holds on from another Delaney looping header and United will get some respite. It’s crazy that they’re being forced to hold on here, really.
92 mins: It’s getting a bit scrappy and frenetic and Newport’s tactic now seems to be to shoot from everywhere and earn as many free-kicks and corners as possible.
It might just work.
NINE minutes of added time.
That gets a big cheer from the Exiles fans, after Evans aimed a piledriver at goal, which went just wide. Ooof.
89 mins: It’s been a productive afternoon for Antony; he goes off with a goal and an assist under his belt, while Martinez is removed for big ‘Arry Mags. Some height to defend these set pieces, perhaps.
88 mins: It comes to nothing but we’ll now get a substantial period of added time, which should create its own drama, providing the deficit stays at one goal.
Our thoughts are with the person affected by the medical emergency.
United are going to bring on Harry Maguire and Omari Forson.
86 mins: Play is now back under way with Newport to take this free-kick with McLoughlin.
This goal is currently the difference between the teams.
Antony puts Manchester United back in front!#BBCFootball #FACup pic.twitter.com/GrtsKxSfYw
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) January 28, 2024
83 mins: Play is temporarily halted as there seems to be a medical emergency in the crowd. The Newport medics have rushed over to the stand in question.
81 mins: McTominay is joined by Willy Kambwala in entering the fray for the visitors, with Casemiro and Shaw – both recently back from injuries, of course – going off. Shaw has been really good.
80 mins: Here comes the inevitable Scott McTominay cameo for United. He’s limbering up on the touchline.
79 mins: More Newport changes
James Waite is on for Charsley, while Wildig is replaced by Kiban Rai. Scot Bennett is also going off, with Matthew Baker on in his stead.
78 mins: The game is becoming a bit stretched, with fatigue probably playing its part now. Garnacho gets another shooting chance cutting in from the left, but he finds Townsend’s midriff again.
75 mins: The Newport threat remains, and United may be wise to deny them any set piece opportunities, as they remain the primary means of danger.
United have a set piece of their own now, as Garnacho’s shot is blocked.
Join the debate on United, as Brendan Large has done:
Hi Dominic, could I just suggest to David Wall that comparing Newport to Tottenham is really letting United off the hook here.
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72 mins: United try and keep it alive and win it back in the Newport box and it results in the first yellow card of the game. Casemiro is the predictable receipient of it, for a late one.
70 mins: The first change of the game is made by Graham Coughlan.
70' | A change for the Exiles 🔄
— Newport County AFC (@NewportCounty) January 28, 2024
🔺 Payne
🔻 Lewis
Sponsored by @purevans
[2-3]#NEWvMNU | #NCAFC
69 mins: Sound the alarm: Antony has scored a goal and not just any goal, a goal with his right foot!
End of days stuff.
GOAL! Newport 2-3 Manchester United (Antony, 68)
Antony is on the scoresheet for the first time this season!
It’s a good right-footed shot from Luke Shaw that is curled against the post and Antony reacts quickly to turn home the rebound with his right foot. Relief for United.
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67 mins: Will Evans continues to cause problems, dropping deep and wide on occasion, this time picking out Charsley, who doesn’t have his shooting boots on. Well wide again.
An email from David Wall sums it all up from a United perspective:
Isn’t this just the story of United’s season, not taking their chances when they are on top in a game, then losing control of the game and struggling to get it back. You can go right back to the second game of the season at Spurs when both Fernandes and Rashford had completely unmarked headers that were easier to score than miss. Score one or both and they’d probably go on to win that match. But they miss them both then lose control of the game in the second half and end up losing. If the forward players has been only slightly more clinical then the whole season would look much more positive.
65 mins: Nick Townsend is getting some treatment in the Newport goal, so we’ll have a slight delay. It’s another chance for the crowd to raise the decibel level. Who’d have thought we’d be here after 20 minutes of this game?
64 mins: Manchester United have been guilty of overplaying it. Antony runs into trouble when passes were available. Then Garnacho gets his cross all wrong from the opposite flank.
Ten Hag scratches his head. Will he make a change here?
62 mins: Lisandro Martinez comes close to a goal on his return. Shaw’s cross is begging to be turned home and the Argentine’s effort is actually denied by Hojlund – the Danish striker couldn’t get himself out of the way.
60 mins: They couldn’t quite. Charsley volleys well wide on the turn – that would have been truly spectacular.
United have lost the plot a bit here. They’ve lost the control they had earlier in the match.
59 mins: Shaw and McLoughlin come to blows and Newport have another promising free-kick.
Could they?
57 mins: Newport appeal for a penalty for handball, then Delaney’s header forces a catch from Bayindir. United are being penned in here … Garnacho wins a soft free-kick to get them out of trouble.
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Newport fancy this. If they win 3-2, I think Ten Hag will explode with fury.
AGAINST THE ODDS 🤯@NewportCounty have come from 2️⃣ goals down to level against Manchester United 😱#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/vlln1H77xo
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 28, 2024
54 mins: Super diving catch from Townsend!
Antony did superbly to keep the ball in play down the right, Hojlund held it up and laid it off to Fernandes, but the United captain’s shot was too close to the goalkeeper.
53 mins: Corner to United after a fine pass from Shaw nearly plays Fernandes in. It’s then played short when none of the visiting players actually seemed ready. Strange.
Some thoughts from our readers on the Morris goal:
Kevin Cullen: “Replays made it look like it was going wide without Martinez deflection. And anybody who would take the goal away from Morris is soulless.”
Adam Roberts: “What Bryn Morris goal? Do you mean the Martinez own goal?”
51 mins: “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” is the jibe from the Newport fans. Has this United season been put under a witch doctor’s hex? Everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong.
49 mins: Ok, we’re now truly in giant-killing territory aren’t we?
How Newport have come back from 2-0 down, I really don’t know.
GOAL! Newport 2-2 Manchester United (Evans, 47)
OH MY GOD.
United are caught napping and Will Evans sneaks in at the near post to turn it home, as this place erupts. Dalot really switched off and Evans was quicker than Varane as he met the cross.
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46 mins: United are on the attack immediately and it falls for Antony to try and channel his inner Garnacho … his overhead kick isn’t quite as good as his teammate's at Everton earlier this season. Over.
Second half: Time for a giant-killing or will Manchester United put their foot down? Let’s find out.
Can I take a straw poll on that Bryn Morris goal?
A bona fide FA Cup thunderbolt for the memory bank, or is it ruined by the deflection and therefore null and void? Or, indeed, will it only go down in history if Newport get a result?
As you can tell, I’m torn on this one.
Antony, Garnacho and Fernandes all had chances to make it 3-0, and then Morris went and did this (via a big deflection):
THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS 🤯@NewportCounty's Bryn Morris has no right to score from there 🚀#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/n8pZV6PQzL
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 28, 2024
HT: Newport 1-2 Manchester United
United end the half pushing for a third goal but they don’t get it – Delaney parrying to deny Fernandes – and a rather topsy-turvy 45 minutes comes to a close.
For at least half an hour, it didn’t resemble the rough-and-tumble cup tie we all expected. United were utterly dominant, 2-0 up thanks to Fernandes and Mainoo and cruising. Then Bryn Morris scored from range and suddenly Newport believe. They will carry that belief into the half-time team talk and beyond.
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45 minutes: We’ll have another two minutes of this enthralling first half.
44 mins: Newport are quicker to second balls than they were in the opening stages; they’re energised now and United might rue those misses. They could have been three or four clear.
42 mins: Newport have a free-kick in a good position, prime for a delivery into the box. Instead it’s squared across to Morris whose shot is easily blocked and United break away.
40 mins: Although that Morris goal has indeed woken up the home supporters, it also seems to have jolted the United players back into life. They were in cruise mode at 2-0, but they know they’re in a fight again.
38 mins: Rodney Parade believes again. The noise level cranks right back up. We have a cup tie now.
GOAL! Newport 1-2 Manchester United (Morris, 37)
A twist in the tale! Bryn Morris has scored out of virtually nothing!
He was absolutely miles out but sent in a thunderous effort that caught Bayindir cold. There was a deflection off Martinez, I think, as well but there was no stopping it. Goodness me. Game on?
Updated
36 mins: Bayindir is back-peddling after Lewis’s long throw is met by Delaney’s header. That’s a second save of the game for the United debutant.
34 mins: Garnacho is knocked to the ground after one of those corners and thinks he should have a penalty. If VAR was around, he may well have got it. He looked to have been kicked, but referee David Coote wasn’t interested.
33 mins: Antony is everywhere – but not really in the best sense. He’s doing a lot. Some of it is good; plenty isn’t so good.
A series of corners here for United.
31 mins: The Rodney Parade pitch is generally pretty good, but it’s also providing a few bizarre bobbles to keep the players honest.
That’s not stopping United too much though, as Antony shoots again and forces Townsend to fingertip it over the bar.
29 mins: Bruno Fernandes is absolutely running the show.
United work it nicely over to the left and Antony get into another great pocket of space in the box … again Delaney denies the chance. A great block to keep it at 2-0.
27 mins: Crunch. Ryan Delaney slides through Hojlund with an inch-perfect tackle and you suspect he enjoyed that.
25 mins: Bayindir is forced into action as Evans spins and shoots, initially whacking it straight at Martinez but then getting his effort away at the second attempt.
An email: “Hi Dominic,” says Dave Crowther. “Were you aware that the locals refer to Rodney Parade as the Dave Stadium?”
I was! In homage to Only Fools, of course. I’ve been down RP a few times as a former Cardiff-based journalist. A cracking old-fashioned ground.
23 mins: Casemiro bundles into Palmer-Houlden and Newport get themselves a free-kick roughtly 35 yards from goal. Will it be chipped into the mixer? United are playing a very high line from these.
Shaw is there with the header this time.
21 mins: Marcus Rashford might be regretting that night out in Belfast* … this could have been an opportunity to add to his season’s goal tally.
*The club have officially ruled Rashford out with illness, I must emphasise.
Updated
1 and 2.
That's some finish from @ManUtd's skipper, @B_Fernandes8 🤩#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/q9qJsoNssH
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 28, 2024
Remember the name: Kobbie Mainoo ⭐️@ManUtd's starboy gets his first goal for the club ♥️#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/EL6lDywwjD
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 28, 2024
19 mins: Garnacho rattles the crossbar from an acute angle!
Surely he should have squared it? Fernandes and Hojlund were available for tap-ins in the six-yard box.
18 mins: United are in again down the left as Garnacho’s shot is deflected, but Antony wins it back to keep things alive. Newport are struggling to contain the United pace out wide.
15 mins: Something for Newport to cheer about – a corner. It’s whipped in from their right by Adam Lewis but Fernandes is there with the defensive header; then Casemiro tidies up.
14 mins: Rodney Parade is now very subdued. This wasn’t in the script, was it?
GOAL! Newport 0-2 Manchester United (Mainoo, 13)
Kobbie Mainoo’s first senior goal!
And a lovely goal it is too, as United attack down the right through Dalot who picks out Mainoo to guide it into the far corner with his first touch. Composure doesn’t even cut it.
Updated
11 mins: Antony should have made it 2-0. Mainoo, Fernandes and Dalot all involved in a well-worked United sequence and Antony finds himself 15 yards out on his left foot, but curls it over.
10 mins: Newport need to play the percentages now and that’s exactly what they’re doing; a few long throws up towards Evans.
Dalot then runs into a blind alley when United thought they had a chance on the counter.
8 mins: That’s a nightmare for Newport. United’s first attack of the game and they score. There wasn’t much Nick Townsend could have done to stop Fernandes’s shot.
GOAL! Newport 0-1 Manchester United (Fernandes, 7)
Slick from United and clinical from Bruno Fernandes!
Antony was played through on the left after Fernandes turned Shaw’s pass into the winger’s path. He then cuts it back to Fernandes who drills it emphatically into the bottom corner.
Updated
6 mins: Martínez and Shaw are seeing plenty of it as United choose to build up largely down their left flank. Newport are going a great job of closing up the middle of the park.
4 mins: It’s all a bit messy in midfield as Casemiro is penalised for a push in Charsley’s back. The Brazilian is back, everyone, and he’s back with a foul.
3 mins: Garnacho is outmuscled by Shane McLoughlin in the Newport right back position, before it’s switched to the United right, with Antony curling it towards – but beyond – the far post.
1 min: An early errant United pass is given the sarcastic cheer treatment from the Newport faithful. As is only right, of course.
Bayindir gets an early grab of the ball as a loose ball bounces his way.
KICK OFF
Newport, in their usual black and amber kit, get us under way.
Manchester United are all in white.
Newport’s Will Evans is a terrifc story. From working on a farm while playing for Cardiff Met University and Bala Town in the Welsh Premier League, to turning professional at the age of 25 and quickly becoming League Two’s premier striker. How he’d love a goal today to burnish his reputation further.
The players are in the tunnel and we’re almost ready to go.
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Tottenham, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Copenhagen, Newcastle, West Ham, Nottingham Forest … are Newport County about to join this list?
(It’s all the places Manchester United have been beaten at this season). Newport, for their part, have not lost at home since mid-November and that was in the EFL Trophy. The Exiles are on a seven-game unbeaten run under Graham Coughlan.
Updated
Astonishingly, Manchester United have not gone more than three games unbeaten at any stage this season. They’ve managed a run of three on two occasions – in October and December – and could match that by avoiding defeat today.
Avoiding defeat would be an absolute bare minimum, of course.
Confirmation of that draw, with the winner of this game to travel to either Bristol City or Nottingham Forest in the last 16. Meanwhile, Maidstone missed out on a glamour tie.
Here’s the United players arriving at their humble surroundings earlier. Probably, with respect, not the place Altay Bayindir dreamed of making his Manchester United debut.
Focused and ready for the #FACup ✔️#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 28, 2024
Some pre-match reading here, as Ben Fisher went behind the scenes at Newport County to check in on their preparations for this game.
The return of Lisandro Martínez, Luke Shaw and Casemiro from injury represents the best possible news for Manchester United fans following their side’s two-week break from action. The trio were all key cogs for Erik ten Hag last season, giving United a solid base from which their third place finish and run to two domestic cup finals was built. Without them, United have been rather more porous.
Casemiro’s comeback means Ten Hag can trial a midfield supporters have long been craving – alongside the promising Kobbie Mainoo and the integral Bruno Fernandes. In fact, bar Rashford and André Onana this could well be Ten Hag’s strongest lineup. It will be fascinating to see how Altay Bayindir fares on his United debut in goal.
Team news
Newport: Townsend, Clarke, Delaney, Lewis, McLoughlin, Bennett, Morris, Wildig, Charsley, Palmer-Houlden, Evans
Subs: Maxted, Payne, Zanzala, Waite, Rai, Wood, Jameson, Baker, Bondswell
Manchester United: Bayindir, Dalot, Varane, Martínez, Shaw, Casemiro, Mainoo, Fernandes, Antony, Garnacho, Højlund
Subs: Heaton, Maguire, Evans, Kambwala, McTominay, Eriksen, Pellistri, Amad, Forson
Updated
Fifth round draw
Before we get to the teams, the fifth round draw has now been completed and it looks like this:
Blackburn/Wrexham v Newcastle
Bournemouth v Leicester
Liverpool/Norwich v Watford/Southampton
Chelsea/Aton Villa v Leeds/Plymouth
Bristol City/Nottingham Forest v Newport County/Manchester United
Wolves v Brighton
Sheffield Wednesday/Coventry City v Maidstone United
Luton Town v Manchester City
Preamble
Well, well, well, are your FA Cup upset antennae tingling? Are Newport County braced for a shock of ages, to follow in the footsteps of Maidstone United and into the fifth round with a healthy slice of cup folklore? Or will Manchester United actually produce a coherent and professional performance and put pay to such nonsense predictions?
Rodney Parade is the only place to be in Gwent this afternoon to find out, as the millionaires of Man United prepare for a cold Welsh welcome in what promises to be a classic FA Cup contest. The headlines: an early afternoon suggestion is that Marcus Rashford has missed the trip altogether due to illness, although Erik ten Hag could welcome back a number of his hitherto injured contingent. United had it fairly easy in the third round at third tier Wigan, so will be hopeful they can see off the fourth tier Exiles.
Kickoff is at 4.30pm (GMT) and the official team news will follow. Let’s do this.
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