Ben Tozer believes the Rodney Parade pitch will be the secret weapon in FA Cup giant killers’ Newport County’s bid to add the scalp of Tottenham to their collection.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side head to the League Two club, conquerors of Leeds United in the third round, for Saturday’s tie, where they will play in front of 66,000 fewer fans than their last home game at Wembley against Everton.
“We can win the game – 100% we can win the game. People will write us off, but they did that against Leeds,” said Tozer.
“People wrote off Swansea against Liverpool, but they got the win. There’s a chance we can win and, let’s not beat around the bush, the pitch is going to be a leveller.
“I think you could bring Barcelona to this pitch and it would be unrealistic for them to play everything with one touch. We’ve got to play the pitch to our advantage, use our form and see what happens.”
County had three games postponed last season because of poor drainage at their Rodney Parade home, but this season a £750,000 investment by new owners, the Welsh Rugby Union, transformed the surface.
Tottenham may find themselves playing on a similar Desso style pitch to their Wembley home at Rodney Parade, but after torrential rain, and three games in the space of five days, it is unlikely to be at its best. On top of that, extra stands have been imported to take the capacity up to 10,000 for the biggest game in decades for the Welsh side.
“I don’t know what team they will bring, what the weather will be like, or if they will fancy the atmosphere,” added Tozer, scorer of County’s goal in their 1-1 draw with Morecambe on Tuesday night.
“But if they bring a couple of young kids who are trying to prove themselves to get in the team, they might not enjoy playing here. The crowd have got to get behind us and be loud and buoyant.
“They need to create a horrible atmosphere for Spurs because they won’t enjoy it. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the club because there’s going to be nine to ten thousand fans here.
“It’s created a buzz around the whole place and not just the club but Newport in general. We’ve just got to go out there and enjoy it and make sure we give a good account of ourselves.”
