YATE Town boss Rob Cousins is hoping to lift his players for the FA Cup replay at Newport tomorrow night.

The Bluebells led 3-1 with just three minutes to go in the first meeting at Lodge Road tomorrow night, but Newport scored twice late on to take the game to Rodney Parade.

Reflecting on the game Cousins said: “I've got good memories of this competition as a player against league opposition, but I've learnt that you usually only get one chance. I'm just hoping that's not the case in this instance.

“We've got to lift the players for the replay. We would've taken a draw at the start of the game but we were so close so everyone is deflated. Hopefully they (Newport) will think the tie is over so a bit of complacency will set in.

A tactical masterstroke by Cousins turned the tie on its head when he replaced Adnan Hiroli with James Harmer during the first half and changed formation with Yate trailing 1-0.

“On the half hour I thought we were getting over-run in midfield so I changed the formation to match them in midfield. It was nothing to do with the way Adnan Hiroli was playing I just wanted to get more legs in the middle and it paid dividends.

“I said at half time be prepared to believe, continue to fight and you'll get your rewards and we got that early goal and then we oozed confidence and belief. For the next half hour we dominated the game and before they got their second goal we could've gone 4-1 up.

“Fatigue set in, not just the legs but tired minds, and that cost us. Josh Dempsey made some great saves and kept us in the game, I just felt he could be a bit more dominant inside the six-yard box in the last minute of the game.

“We've created history with the attendance, and the game warranted that attendance because we put on a show for everybody.”

Newport boss Justin Edinburgh admitted his side made a lucky escape.

He said: “We were careless and lethargic in the final third in the first half, we should have had the game dead and buried.”

“It just goes to show that if you don’t take your chances and take advantage of your possession how things like the second half can come back and haunt you. We can make no excuses.

“We didn’t want a replay but the way we’ve played we’ll take what we’ve got. Yate will have a lot of belief and we will need to be a lot more like we know we can be.”