I DON’T know about you but I’m still catching my breath after that incredible FA Youth Cup tie against MK Dons.

As I told the Argus in the week I am so proud of the under-18s for the way they battled back from 4-1 down to force extra-time.

I’m sure the 430 fans who paid £5 to watch the match will agree that they definitely got value for money.

Of course it was horrible to lose it 5-4 in the last minute of extra-time and go out of the cup but the way they refused to be beaten was similar to the first team coming back from 2-0 down at home to Exeter last Sunday.

It just shows the kind of fighting spirit that the manager Justin Edinburgh and his assistants Jimmy Dack and Wayne Hatswell have instilled in the squad.

And that obviously goes for the whole club as well as we saw on Tuesday night.

Big nights like that are massive for the boys. They’ve got to try to make a career for themselves and they rose to the occasion.

A lot of our fans will have gone away feeling really excited about the talent coming through at this club.

The night didn’t start off on the right footing because the programme had pictures of the under-16s instead of the under-18s.

And we had no pen pictures of our players, just their players. Then we lost our goalkeeper to injury in the warm-up.

But we made up for it during the game and the boys really appreciated the gesture of being invited to have breakfast with the first team on Wednesday morning.

The way they scoffed so much food you’d think they never get fed properly! But it was great for them to be in and around the first team environment.

That shows again that we are truly one club now – we’re united and all the stronger for it.

The under-18s have got Torquay at home this morning and there will probably be a few tired legs to say the least.

We didn’t do too much training after Tuesday because they needed rest and recuperation more than anything.

But if they want to make it as professionals they will have to learn to put their body through a lot and they have to be up for this game just as much as they were for the big cup tie at Rodney Parade.

I’ll be with them for the 11am kick-off as my hamstring has not quite healed enough for me to travel to Bury.

It’s a lot better this week and I’m hoping I’ll be OK for another nice long trip to Carlisle next Saturday.

Bury have spent a lot of money and they’ll be a tough nut to crack but I’m sure Justin and the team can keep our incredible run of just one defeat in 14 league games going this afternoon.

One other thing I wanted to remind people of this week is the fact that we’ve got I’m a Celebrity star Jimmy Bullard coming down to Rodney Parade on Saturday, December 13.

Jimmy is a good mate of mine from our days at Wigan and he’s agreed to do some after-dinner speaking for us in the Bisley Suite following our home clash with Stevenage.

The night of entertainment will help out Newport Corries as well as the County academy.

There aren’t many tickets left but if you’re quick you might be in luck. You can contact me via the club or Nicky Morgan at the Corries on 07816 901985.

I wish we’d charged a bit more now because I’m convinced he’s going to be crowned king of the jungle and then he’ll be a proper celebrity and he’ll definitely put up his fees!

He’s already the favourite and he seems to be loved by everybody. He’s TV gold and he makes people laugh, which is what we need more of.

He’s a character but we also saw the other side of him as well, the side that I know as a friend away from the spotlight.

Everyone has him down as a simple clown but he showed his caring side by saving one of the other celebrities from ‘jail’ instead of taking the food back to the camp.

I’m still going to be voting for him to keep doing the trials though – it is hilarious to see him squealing at the snakes and creepy crawlies!