AFTER defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Tranmere Rovers, Scot Bennett and his Newport County AFC teammates are determined to beat Salford City tomorrow night so they can finally be Wembley winners in April.
County host League Two rivals Salford in front of the Sky Sports TV cameras in the Leasing.com Trophy semi-final at Rodney Parade (kick-off 7.45pm) knowing that victory will seal a third trip to Wembley win as many years.
Michael Flynn’s men were beaten 2-0 by Spurs in an FA Cup replay in 2018 and went down to an agonising 1-0 defeat to Tranmere after extra-time in last year’s League Two play-off final.
“To get to Wembley three years in a row would be a big achievement for the club and hopefully we can get a better result than last time,” said Bennett.
“We were proud to get to the play-off final last year – it’s what you want to experience as a child growing up.
“It’s always a great day out but when you get to Wembley, you want to win. We want to put things right.”
The Exiles have struggled to score in the league all season, with just 27 in 31 matches at an average of 0.87 per game, but the goals have flowed in the Trophy.
They hit four past West Ham United under-21s, struck seven on an incredible night at Cheltenham Town and beat MK Dons 3-0 to make an average of 2.5 goals per game.
“The Trophy is not one that you look at as a massive competition at the start of the season, but it has been good for us,” said Bennett, who scored the winner against Leicester City under-21s in the last round.
“The pressure is sometimes off a bit in these games and we’ve beaten some good sides and scored a lot of goals.
“But now we’re at the semi-final stage it’s a massive opportunity and we obviously want to do well.
“And I know we’ll have the backing of the fans,” he added. “They’ve been brilliant ever since I joined the club and they can make the difference on Wednesday. They can push us on to victory.”
A win would be a much-needed morale boost after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Mansfield Town, which left County 16th in the League Two table.
“We were all disappointed,” said Bennett. “We lost to a sloppy goal and we had a few words between us in the dressing room after the game.
“But it’s one we’ve just got to put behind us and forget about now and we’re looking forward to a huge game for the club.
“We want to move on and get a win and it’s a really good opportunity to get back to Wembley.
“Salford will be thinking the same as us and it’ll be a tough game,” he added.
“They’re a really good side. They got a positive result down here in November and they’ve improved since then and made some really good signings.
“We certainly won’t be taking them lightly but we’ll be confident that we can get the win if we perform how we know we can.”
Read more: Newport County hoping for bumper crowd for Salford semi-final
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