Newport County have been drawn away to Farnborough in the first-round proper of the FA Trophy.
The Hampshire club play in tier three of the non-league pyramid and are currently the leaders of the Zamaretto Premier League, holding a five-point advantage over their nearest challengers having gone through the league campaign so far unbeaten.
It will be certainly be a tricky tie for County, who have already suffered at the hands of lower-league opposition this season: their FA Cup campaign was ended at the first hurdle when they were bundled out by Paulton Rovers; they will be hoping for no repeat when they travel to Cherrywood Road on Saturday 12th December.
County progressed into the first-round following Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Braintree at Spytty Park but will now face a potential banana skin as they attempt to forge a cup run. Manager Dean Holdsworth is looking forward to the tie, describing it as a “tasty” prospect: “We are both flying in the league and we’re there on merit. Both sides will be high on confidence and I’m sure they will be relishing the opportunity to have a crack at us but we will also be looking forward to what should be a great game.”
County will have sour memories of Farnborough, having lost to their predecessors, Farnborough Town (as they were known before entering liquidation in 2007), four times between 2005 and 2007, but Holdsworth is simply focussed on the next match: “It’s about picking the right side to win each game and so far we’ve done pretty well with that.”
