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Leeds travel to Newport in the FA Cup
Monday, 4th Dec 2017 22:40 by Tim Whelan

For the second time this season Leeds have been drawn away to League Two Newport County, this time in the third round of the FA Cup. In August the League cup tie had to be switched to Elland Road, but this time County should be ready to stage the tie at Rodney Parade.

With the game coming soon after the demanding Christmas and New Year schedule the chances are that a few first team regulars will get a rest, so Mateusz Klich might get the chance to stop moaning on Twitter about his lack of game time and put his boots on. No doubt promotion will be the club's priority, but we won't want the embarrassment of yet another defeat to lower ranked opposition.

We won't be able to take too many liberties against a Newport side who have shown a remarkable improvement since Mike Flynn took over less than 12 months ago. He took charge in March when they were 11 points adrift at the bottom of the table, yet he guided them to the great escape, preserving their League status with a dramatic win on the final day of the season.

This season they sit in 9th place in League two and won't be a pushover on their own patch, even if we did win the League Cup tie quite comfortably in the end. The tie is due to be played on the weekend of January 6th, but I wouldn't be surprised if the local constabulary insist on an early kick off on the Sunday when they consider the prospect of our following visiting a relatively small ground.

It's possible that this could be one of the five ties chosen for live coverage by the BBC or BT Sport, as both of our FA Cup ties were televised last season and we remain an attractive option for broadcasters looking to pull in the viewing figures. But the rest of the draw contains a few other obvious choices for live games, so we'll have to see if little old Leeds will be on telly again.

I only hope that it all goes better than our last visit to South Wales at this stage of the competition, both on and off the field.

Photo: Action Images



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