Newport County well ahead of schedule says boss Michael Flynn after a season to remember

“I think we’re miles ahead. We’re way ahead of where we should be,” he said.

“We were nearly relegated two years ago and I don’t believe there would have been a Newport County AFC if we’d gone out of the Football League, because of the financial implications.

“Then what we did last season, finishing 11th and going on the FA Cup run and drawing with Spurs at home, was an unbelievable achievement.

“You see Spurs are in the Champions League semi-final a year later, so that goes to show how big that was.

“And this season we’ve beaten Leicester and Middlesbrough and made a game of it against Man City, and there’s not too many Premier League clubs who have done that.”

But he warned: “Just because we’ve overachieved, it doesn’t mean for one second that I don’t think we can win this.

“We can go through and get promoted.

“I’ve got so much belief in these players. They’ve done the business throughout the whole season in the league and in the cups.

“I think it’s 59 games we’ve played already and we want to make it 62.

“It’s a long season, but it’ll be worth it if we manage to pull off a shock.”

As always, the biggest question mark is over the state of the Rodney Parade pitch tonight, but Flynn said: “Man City didn’t struggle to “play football on there.

It’s quite an easy thing to blame the pitch, because when you lose to little Newport it’s not good for the bigger clubs.

“It’s the same for both teams and Man City played football on it.”

Newport have announced that they will subsidise the cost of coach travel for fans travelling to Sunday’s second leg at One Call Stadium.

County have been allocated approximately 1,600 tickets.