NEWPORT County AFC striker Padraig Amond knows that the nation will be rooting for an FA Cup upset when the Exiles take on eighth-tier Maldon & Tiptree in next week’s televised second-round clash.

Amond and captain Joss Labadie scored the goals to beat Grimsby Town in Wednesday’s first-round replay at Rodney Parade and set up a trip to Maldon next Friday night.

That match will be shown live on BBC 2 and, having beaten Leeds United, Leicester City and Middlesbrough in the cup over the last two seasons, County will be determined to avoid being on the other end of a classic cup upset.

“We’ve been on their side of it so we know there’s always a chance of a giantkilling,” Amond told BBC Wales as he looked ahead to next week’s tie.

“It’s been picked for TV because of that so we need to be really professional and go there and perform well, otherwise we’ll be in trouble.

“It’s about being in the hat for the next round and it’s the chance for us to get another FA Cup run going.

“But they’re a good side. They’ve beaten Leyton Orient in the last round, scored some good goals and looked decent so we’ll do our homework on them and make sure we hopefully get a good result.”

South Wales Argus:

Labadie admitted that the Exiles weren’t at their best on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t a great spectacle but we got the job done and we’re into the next round,” said the County captain.

“We knew what kind of game it was going to be and, fair play to Grimsby, they came at us and gave us a really tough game so we’re thankful to be in the second round.

“I got a bit lucky with the rebound off the keeper [for the goal],” he added.

“He pulled off a good save but thankfully it fell on my left foot and I smashed it in.

“It will be another tough game next week but we’ll approach it like we do any other and hopefully get through again.”

Grimsby’s interim manager Anthony Limbrick, who took over after Michael Jolley’s sacking last week, told the Grimsby Telegraph: “It was disappointing going out of the cup in the manner that we did.

“It was quite tight and we probably lacked a bit of quality in the final third.

“I thought we did what we had to do when you come down to Newport, in terms of competing, heading things and dealing with the pressure they put on you.

“We wanted to start the second half better than we did. The first goal was a real killer for us on the break. We felt that it was one that we gave them.

“With the second goal, we were down to 10 men [after Mattie Pollock’s late dismissal] and were going for it.

“We felt that whoever got the first goal would probably go on to win the game. Unfortunately that wasn’t us.”

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