AFTER jealously watching Newport County's FA Cup exploits on television, goalkeeper Tom King wants to be centre stage in another passion-fuelled run in the famous competition.

The Exiles take a break from their League Two promotion push for a round-one clash with Grimsby Town at Blundell Park (kick-off 3pm).

Mike Flynn's men have provided some magic moments, not to mention boosted the coffers, in cup clashes with Tottenham, Manchester City, Leicester, Leeds, Blackburn and Middlesbrough in recent seasons.

South Wales Argus:

County have won acclaim with their tenacity and spirit, with King among their admirers before he headed for Rodney Parade.

"It's a very passionate competition, and we are a team that show a lot of passion," said the 24-year-old, a summer signing from Millwall to replace Joe Day. "We fight until the very end, we go all the way to the death and that embodies the FA Cup.

"I watched the Manchester City, Spurs, Middlesbrough and Leicester games on TV. I was sat there thinking 'come on Newport, show fight, dog, grit and determination'.

"If selected, to be part of that would be special and hopefully I can pick up where the others left off. The FA Cup is such a special competition and we need to be right at it and at the races."

King has made 16 appearances between the sticks but Nick Townsend got the nod for the Carabao Cup encounter with West Ham.

"I never expect to play," said King. "We push each other all the time, all week, every week.

"I never expect to play and it is completely down to the manager, but I feel that we have done all right as a defensive unit so far."

South Wales Argus:

County head to Lincolnshire after back-to-back league defeats that has led to them dropping to seventh in the table.

A loss at Colchester was followed by a 2-1 reverse against Salford City, who became the first side to leave Newport with three points since February.

"It was a tough one to take and the unbeaten home record is gone now, but we've just got to move past that as quickly as possible, put the defeat to the back of our minds and start another run," said King.

"We like to make Rodney Parade a fortress and know that teams don't like coming here. We don't make it easy for teams and if you look at the grand scheme of things against Salford, we had enough chances in the first half and the second half.

"We will do all we can to put that right this week, ready to go into the FA Cup game full of confidence and ready to make our mark in the competition.

"It's going to be a special occasion - the FA Cup is always a special competition for this club.

"We will be looking to bounce back to get ourselves into the hat for the next round, and then take that form back to Grimsby the following week in the league."