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Newport players salute their travelling fans after their 3-1 win in the Capital One Cup First Round match against Brighton & Hove Albion (Getty Images)
Newport County from England’s League Two, announced their return to the Football League after a 25-year exile, with a 3-1 extra-time win over Championship side Brighton and Hove Albion.
The result was a shocker, as Newport were not expected to get the better of their more fancied rivals. Brighton had taken the lead early in the 17th minute through Ashley Barnes, but the game turned when Brighton were reduced to 10-men with the sending off of Inigo Calderon in the 67th minute.
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Newport fought their way back into the game after that incident and Danny Crow, who had come on as a substitute, scored the all-important equalizer in the 81st minute to send the game into extra-time.
Four minutes into the extra period, Crow scored again with a magnificent strike as Newport took the lead. Conor Washington then added a third in the closing minutes of the first half of extra-time to put the game beyond doubt.
Newport were playing only their second competitive match as a Football League team after spending nearly 25 years playing in the non-league ranks. They will be included in Thursday’s draw for the 2nd round of the League Cup, where they will discover their next opponents. This is only Newport’s third season as a full-time outfit.
Newport County manager Justin Edinburgh said after the match:
“We’ve lost one of our players tonight with a double leg break. I don’t think there was any malice in it – I know there wasn’t – but we’re really disappointed for Byron and it takes the gloss off tonight’s result really.
“I’m not particularly interested in anybody else’s supporters apart from our own and the conduct of my players, but to boo a player off the pitch who’s had a double leg break is ludicrous, but we won’t worry about that – we won’t let that take away from what was a fantastic performance and a fantastic win.” said Edinburgh, as reported by BBC Sport.
To put their achievement in perspective, England’s League Two is three levels below the top-flight Premier League. Only teams in England’s top four divisions can qualify for the League Cup. Newport gained entry into League Two only last summer after defeating Wrexham in the Conference Premier playoffs.
