Newport County aiming to shock West Ham United in Carabao Cup

Over the past two seasons, Michael Flynn’s men have beaten Leeds United, Leicester City and Middlesbrough at Rodney Parade in the FA Cup.

They’ve also drawn with Tottenham Hotspur and pushed the mighty Manchester City all the way to make international headlines.

The Exiles players have got used to performing on the biggest stage.

But summer signing Tristan Abrahams missed all of those occasions and he cannot wait for his first crack at a Premier League side tonight.

The striker, who scored his first goal for the club and hit the winning penalty in the first-round win at Gillingham, told iFollowExiles: “I’m really excited.

“For myself and a couple of the other boys as well, we’re excited because we want to play the biggest teams.

“That’s the level that we look to play at so that’s going to be another test and I think all the boys are raring to go for it. I definitely am, I’m excited, and ready to go again.”

Goalkeeper Nick Townsend was the other hero at Gillingham, saving one penalty in normal time and two in the shootout to earn a crack at the Hammers.

And he’s hoping he gets another chance to show that he can challenge Exiles number one Tom King.

“I think everyone’s desperate to play in this one,” said Townsend.

“It’s massive for the club, for the fans and for the city – games like these are putting Newport on the map.

“Kingy’s not really put a foot wrong so far, as shown by the clean sheets, but I think it’s good for the manager to have a headache picking between us.

“It’s a good competition, but I want to be more than a cup keeper.

“I don’t want to just wait for the cup competitions to come around. I want to be playing every game.

“Hopefully I get a start in this one and take my chance to impress again.”

The manager has made it clear that the Carabao Cup is not his priority and he sees tonight’s tie as a no-pressure match for his players.

“It’s not a priority for me, but we’re in it and we showed that we want to be in it,” said Flynn.

“And we’ve got a fantastic opportunity now to play against another Premier league team.

“I want to do well in the league and the focus is always there, as it is for pretty much every club in the Football League, but it’s a nice distraction and it’s a free hit for us.

“It’s going to be a really difficult game, but we’ll give it our best shot.

“It’s nice to be out there in the public eye live on Sky Sports – it’s massive for the football club.”