AS a passionate and celebratory Rodney Parade celebrated to the prospect of facing the mighty Manchester City in South Wales in the fifth round of the FA Cup, Middlesbrough’s players looked embarrassed and dejected as they headed for the tunnel.

This was a special night for Newport County, and one to forget in equal measure for the men from Teesside, who were left to trudge of the pitch humiliated on a night when not one of them could complain about the outcome.

Whether it was the poor tactical decisions, disappointing performances, atrocious weather conditions or a pitch that has two different rugby teams play on it when County are not at home, excuses matter for nothing.

What does matter is that Boro have been dumped out of the FA Cup by a League Two side.

Boro are not the first from a higher league to pay the price here, already this season Leicester City have suffered a similar fate. Last season Tottenham were held to a draw in the same competition and Championship promotion contenders Leeds were dumped out too.

And from early on last night there was a sense Middlesbrough were going to struggle too and that is exactly what happened, as Tony Pulis’ visit to the town where he was born ended in a disaster.

Boro failed to learn from the first-half danger signs when Newport’s 14 efforts on goal failed to gain its rewards. That didn’t matter to them in the end, as Boro failed to improve and paid the price.

The outstanding Robbie Willmott – who was stacking shelves in Tesco 18 months ago – scored the first in the 47th minute and laid on the second for former Hartlepool striker Padraig Amond in the 64th to put Newport on track for a first fifth round appearance in 70 years.

And Boro’s also suffered the added blow of injury worries to Britt Assombalonga and Jordan Hugill ahead of Saturday’s important promotion date with Leeds at the Riverside.

Having made the short trip over from their Celtic Manor hotel across the M4, where the Ryder Cup was held on the outskirts of Newport, and hit traffic before finally arriving at Rodney Parade, it will not have taken long for the Boro contingent to regret conceding that late Matty Dolan equaliser ten days earlier.

Even Pulis, back at a venue just a five-minute walk from where he grew up in Pillgwenlly, wasn’t too keen to be heading back to these parts for a midweek replay sandwiched between two Championship games against promotion rivals.

To see the surface water on patches of the Rodney Parade pitch following a pre-match downpour that continued for most of the tie, which was already bobbly because of the 40 rugby games that get played here during a season too, raised hope among the locals of a FA Cup shock.

Pulis named a team that should have been strong enough to avoid being dumped out in South Wales. Even though he chose to rest John Obi Mikel and Ryan Shotton completely, he paired Assombalonga in attack with Hugill.

Paddy McNair, a summer signing yet to command a first team spot on a regular basis, was given a chance as a right wing-back – although didn’t last long in that role - and he was soon part of a defence put under pressure.

No sooner had midfielder Jonny Howson, back in the team after being named on the bench at West Brom, curled an effort from 25 yards just wide, Newport went down the other end and went much closer, time and again.

Having had a strong penalty shout waved away when a delivery into the area hit the arm of Adam Clayton, a corner in the same attack ended with a goalmouth scramble and Dimi Konstantopoulos was alert to hold on his line when Amond looked certain to score from close range. Jamille Matt also missed from point blank in the same move.

The direct nature of Newport’s play, with a clear direction from the boss to get balls into the box via impressive wing-backs Willmott and Dan Butler, meant a busy night for Konstantopoulos and he had to flick away a back post header from ex-Pools favourite Amond that threatened to drop under the bar.

How Newport didn’t take the lead in the opening period was beyond everyone inside the ground. With the exception of Hugill’s low effort that shaved Joe Day’s right-hand post midway through the first half after Lewis Wing’s lovely pass, it seemed a matter of time before the home team would score.

Konstantopoulos had other ideas during that period. The towering Greek goalkeeper made another two excellent stops before the half-time whistle.

He had already denied Amond again when Mark O’Brien’s header dropped invitingly for the forward at the back post before then diving to his left to turn away another Amond header from the dangerous Willmott’s right-wing cross.

The problems Willmott and Dan Butler caused in the space they regularly found in behind George Friend and McNair prompted a change of shape too.

Pulis had to instruct his players, via a note handed to Clayton, to scrap the original system and move to a four at the back with Assombalonga left up front on his own. Even that didn’t have the desired effect, as Newport kept pushing and causing problems.

Things soon got worse after the restart too. While Rajiv van la Parra replaced McNair, it took less than two minutes for Newport to take the lead – with Boro failing to learn lessons from the opening period.

Willmott, who had shown his quality often enough out wide, was allowed to run and run from halfway and when it looked like he would be unable to get a shot away, he fired at goal from 20 yards. Konstantopoulos let the ball slip out of his hands and it found his top corner.

If things weren’t bad enough, Boro’s main two strikers – Assombalonga and Hugill, who had done very little to influence things anyway – hobbled off with injuries by the hour; making way for Ashley Fletcher and Rudy Gestede.

And within seven minutes of that final change, Newport added the crucial second. And in style, from a training ground routine.

Willmott was again involved. He rolled a corner towards the near post and the centre of the area, where Amond arrived on cue with fine movement to power a first-time effort to make the inside of Konstantopoulos’ top left corner bulge.

From there on in it was party time for Newport. Boro never looked like dragging themselves back into it and it will be the Exiles who deserve to face City here in the fifth round.