Exiles earn FA Cup replay at Wembley

County have still not beaten top-flight opposition since 1964 but they pushed Spurs to the limit with a performance to be proud of in their first fourth round appearance since 1979.

Padraig Amond gave the Exiles a richly-deserved lead with a bullet header from Robbie Willmott’s cross on 38 minutes.

And they looked to be on their way to a massive cup shock that would have rivalled that legendary win for Newport RFC over the All Blacks in 1963 in terms of sporting spectacles at the famous old ground.

The biggest football crowd in Newport since 1983 were treated to a classic cup encounter and the North London millionaires only averted disaster on 82 minutes as Harry Kane prodded in to earn a replay at Wembley.

The big news for County before kick-off was that Joss Labadie and Ben White were fit to return after recovering from their respective hamstring problems.

That meant that Great Escape hero Mark O’Brien and last season’s joint top scorer Josh Sheehan had to be content with a place on the bench.

Matty Dolan was also amongst the substitutes as he returned from injury with Flynn preferring to keep Ben Tozer and Scot Bennett in tandem in front of the back four.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino made five changes from his side’s draw at Southampton last week but he signalled his intentions with a very strong squad travelling to South Wales.

Kane captained the visitors and he lined up alongside fellow England star Eric Dier and Belgian international defender Jan Vertonghen.

And, in case of emergencies, the visitors had the likes of Dele Alli, Son Heung-min, record buy Davinson Sanchez and Wales international Ben Davies on the bench.

Anyone expecting County to park the bus would have shocked by the way they tore into their illustrious visitors from the start.

And they should have been ahead as early as the third minute as Labadie found space down the right flank.

His cross was cleverly left by Amond for the unmarked Frank Nouble near the penalty spot but the striker fluffed his big moment, skewing his shot horribly high and wide.

Neither the former Chelsea man nor his Exiles teammates let that affect their confidence, however, and they continued to take the game to Spurs.

A fired up Labadie robbed Victor Wanyama and tried his luck from distance but Michel Vorm held it easily enough.

Scot Bennett then ventured forward and his volley was just off target.

Kane didn’t have his first sight of goal until the 11th minute when he curled a shot over from 20 yards to huge cheers from the home fans.

And most of the action continued to come at the other end in front of the huge temporary stand.

Bennett had another go from 25 yards but his dipping half volley deflected off a defender and was easy for Vorm to gather.

Arsenal fan Labadie was running the show in midfield and he outmuscled young Argentinian Juan Foyth in a statement of intent.

Ben Tozer's long throws were also causing panic in the Tottenham box as the Premier League giants began to find life uncomfortable.

Demetriou floated a lovely ball forward from Mickey Demetriou for Amond to chase but he was stopped in his tracks by the offside flag.

And Vorm then did extremely well to hold a whipped free-kick from Willmott on the left before Ben White volleyed wide from 20 yards out.

It was all County until the half-hour mark but Spurs slowly started to crank through the gears before the break.

Joe Day made his first save on 31 minutes as he tipped a Kane effort onto the post and behind.

And the Exiles goalkeeper was happy to see a Kane free-kick clear his bar by a yard after Labadie had been booked for bringing down the Premier League top scorer.

But, just as it looked like the extra quality would tell, County produced a moment of magic to almost take the roof off Rodney Parade.

Another missile of a throw from Tozer was only half cleared to Willmott and the former Tesco worker delivered a perfect cross for Amond to climb above Kieran Trippier and bury a header into the bottom corner.

Nearly 8,200 County fans could hardly believe what they were witnessing but it was no less than their side deserved for a superb first-half showing.

It was a 10th of the season for Amond, who became the first County man to score past Spurs since Ken Hollyman back in 1959.

He can scarcely have scored a bigger goal and he went close to doubling his tally before the break as County continued to push forward.

Pochettino was clearly worried by what he’s seen and he called for reinforcements with Son replacing Kyle Walker-Peters after the break and Alli coming on for Fernando Lllorente on 65 minutes.

The big guns began to come to the fore and Kane should have levelled but he somehow headed over from just five yards after being picked out by Trippier.

Kane and Alli then combined to release Son and the Korean’s left foot shot was superbly stopped by the on-rushing Day.

Kane then cut inside and fired into the side netting as the chances began to mount and the pressure built on the County defence.

Flynn tried to give Spurs something to worry about by bringing on Shawn McCoulsky with 15 minutes remaining and Amond got a well-deserved standing ovation as he made way.

The super-sub, the hero against Leeds United in round three, did his best to hold the ball up and help run down the clock as the fans urged their heroes to get over the line.

White blocked a shot from Dier and Wanyama skewed an effort wide and the home fans dared to dream.

Kane got away from Labadie to tap in from Son's clever flick and save Spurs’ blushes but even that didn’t dampen the atmosphere for too long and the final whistle was met with an almighty roar.

Wembley here we come!

County: Day; Pipe, White, Demetriou, Butler; Bennett, Tozer, Labadie (Dolan, 84); Willmott, Amond (McCoulsky, 74), Nouble

Subs not used: Bittner, O’Brien, Reid, Sheehan, Hayes

Booked: Labadie

Spurs: Vorm; Trippier, Foyth, Vertonghen, Walker-Peters (Son, 46); Dier, Wanyama, Sissoko, Dembele (Davies, 80); Llorente (Alli, 65), Kane

Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Sanchez, Oakley-Boothe, Georgiou

Booked: Foyth

Referee: Roger East

Attendance: 9,836

Argus star man: Labadie