Newport County suffered their first defeat under new manager Graham Coughlan, but they can take plenty of positives from a battling display against former Premier League champions Leicester City.
County bowed out of the Carabao Cup with their heads held high at the King Power Stadium on a night when the top-flight quality of the hosts eventually proved just too much for the Exiles.
Brendan Rodgers made seven changes from Leicester’s weekend victory at Everton but it was still a strong Foxes side with Jonny Evans in defence, Harvey Barnes a constant threat on the left flank and Jamie Vardy leading the line.
Evans was the only survivor from Leicester’s famous FA Cup defeat at Rodney Parade three years ago and the home side soon showed they were intent on avoiding another upset.
Barnes and Vardy combined to create the first big chance of the night in the seventh minute but Vardy, the target of light-hearted abuse from the travelling fans, uncharacteristically opted to square the ball for Ayoze Perez and allowed Adam Lewis to clear the danger.
Dennis Praet wasted another decent opening after 15 minutes when he sliced a half-volley wide from the edge of the area.
The hosts continued to dominate, recording just under 90 per cent possession in the first half hour, and County were grateful to goalkeeper Nick Townsend on 27 minutes as he reacted quickly to deny Barnes from close range.
Having weathered the early storm, the Exiles began to string some passes together and grew in confidence as half-time approached but they were made to pay for some slack defending in the 44th minute.
Adam Lewis, James Waite and Matty Dolan allowed right-back James Justin far too much time and space to cut inside and curl a fabulous left-footed effort into the far corner of Townsend’s net to finally break the Exiles resistance.
County knew they couldn’t go gung-ho in response, but Coughlan’s men started the second half impressively.
Waite, the match-winner in the first two rounds against Luton Town and Portsmouth, almost provided another magic moment eight minutes after the restart as he beat left-back Luke Thomas and whipped in a dangerous cross for Lewis Collins that was just tipped away by goalkeeper Daniel Iversen.
Mickey Demetriou then headed against the post from Dolan’s free-kick, when he really should have scored, though the offside flag quickly spared the defender’s blushes.
Rodgers made a triple change just after the hour mark, bringing on Youri Tielemans, Kelechi Iheanacho and Marc Albrighton, the man who gave away the winning penalty in Newport back in 2019.
The changes almost had an instant impact as Iheanacho played in Vardy but Townsend was again out quickly to deny the veteran striker.
After Barnes and Tielemans went close, Vardy finally got his goal 20 minutes from time with an expertly placed header from Albrighton’s cross that even an inspired Townsend couldn’t keep out.
And Vardy had the last laugh as he killed off the tie with a classic counter-attacking goal eight minutes from time.
Leicester City (4-2-3-1) : D Iversen; J Justin (M Albrighton, 62), W Faes (J Vestergaard, 77), J Evans, L Thomas; W Ndidi (S Braybrooke, 74), B Soumare (Y Tielemans, 62); A Perez (K Iheanacho, 62), D Praet, H Barnes; J Vardy
Subs not used: A Smithies, D Amartey, P Daka, N Mendy
Newport County (3-4-1-2): N Townsend; C Norman, P Farquharson, M Demetriou; Aaron Lewis, M Dolan, N Moriah-Welsh (S Bowen, 77), Adam Lewis (H Bright, 90); J Waite (T Nevers, 69); O Bogle (C Zimba, 69), L Collins (W Evans, 69)
Subs not used: J Day, S Bennett, H Lindley, J Karadogan
