n n n ‘. concat(e. i18n. t(“search. voice. recognition_retry”),’n
FA Cup Fourth Round: Newport County vs Manchester United
Venue: Rodney Parade, Newport Date: Sunday 28 January Start: 16:30 GMT
Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru 2, BBC Sounds, BBC Sport and the app, plus live texts
Highlights: Match of the day, BBC One from 22:30 GMT and later on request
Will Evans would get up at 4:30 a. m. to look at paintings on his father’s farm in the countryside of mid-Wales. In the cold, dark depths of winter mornings, football would offer him a welcome distraction as his brain turned to the brain. of the club he supported, Manchester United.
On Sunday, Evans will wake up a little later as he prepares to play Newport County’s United in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
This has been billed as the biggest match in Newport’s history, with the League Two side’s home ground, Rodney Parade, sold out for the visit of Premier League royalty which will attract an audience of millions on television.
At the start of the match, the milking parlor will never have felt so far away.
“I get a lot of questions from my brothers and my dad about it, who keep asking me when I’ll be back to make a change,” forward Evans, 26, told BBC Sport Wales with a broad smile.
“When my brothers went to the city, it was up to me to milk some of it, so I got up at dawn to do it.
“It’s nothing I like to do, but it’s a family business, money in my pocket and anything I have to do.
“I’ve dreamed of this moment all my life. To play against the team I’ve supported all my life would be incredible and to be this close to that game is really special.
“It’s hard to say dreams come true but this is definitely one of them when you think, ‘Wow, this is actually happening’.”
Newport County: The FA Cup Giantkillers
One day in 1976, Man Utd helped save Newport County.
Newport’s Palmer-Houlden prepares for United’s upset
As his farming experience suggests, Evans didn’t take the more traditional direction toward professional football.
After being released from Shrewsbury Town as a teenager, Evans worked on the family farm and played for the local Llangedwyn village team.
“It’s the bottom of the food chain. It’s tier five, which is the lowest tier in Wales,” says Delwyn Jones, who has represented Llangedwyn as a player, manager and treasurer.
“The club was founded in 1975 and we’ve been at this point ever since. It’s a very local club. Will hails from the village of Llangedwyn and played a few games for us in his teens.
Evans remembers those games vividly: “It was a group of farmers who arrived 10 minutes before kick-off in their rubber boots and covered in manure from head to toe. “
Feeling that would be little more than a hobby, Evans enrolled at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
He didn’t know the Met had a team, let alone one that competed in the Cymru Premier, Wales’ elite, until one of his cousins, who also read there, encouraged him to give it a try.
Despite having a hangover in his test, Evans controlled the standings and eventually established himself as a first-team starter, helping the Met qualify for Europe by impressing in various positions in defence, midfield and attack.
In 2020, Evans was nearing graduation, applied for coaching jobs and contemplated returning to work on the farm, when he signed through another Cymru Premier club, Bala Town.
“I know Will very clearly,” says David Edwards, the former Wales and Wolves midfielder who ended his playing career at Bala.
“I’d signed for Bala and I was good friends with a lad called Steve Leslie, who I’d played with at Shrewsbury, and Alex Ramsay, a goalkeeper. They asked if I wanted a lift to training so I jumped in and there was one other person in the car, and it was Will.
“We were flying around the corner in his car, late from a day of work on the farm, scrambling to get to Bala on time.
“The guys spoke really highly of him as an individual. I saw how nice he was. We got on straight away and, by spending a lot of time together in the car travelling around Wales, attending matches and training, we were getting to know each other very closely. “
The upward trajectory of Evans’ career has been smoother than his driving, and his performances with Bala (as a left winger and centre-forward) earned him a call-up to Wales C, the semi-professional national team.
They faced England C in March 2022 and Evans stole the display with two goals in the 4-0 win. Two months later, Newport called him to turn him into a full-time professional.
“I tell everyone that if it was a National League team, a Ligue 2 team or even a Ligue 1 team, I would definitely introduce Will because the benefits of what he gives you are surely huge,” Edwards said.
“You know, every week you’re going to get a 10 out of 10 rating, he’s an amazing specimen, the way he can run and his power. It suits the football league.
“And he’s so malleable in a way that he didn’t have a lot of education at a young age, so there’s a lot of scope for coaches to expand their tactical wisdom of the game, their technical ability, all that kind of stuff.
“There was no question he was going to do it and you saw that in Newport. “
Evans spent most of his first season with Newport at left-back, impressive as he made 52 appearances in all competitions and scored 4 goals.
But his breakthrough came in this crusade and, after taking the lead, he now has 18 in 36 games.
It has sparked interest from other clubs but, for now, Evans is satisfied in Newport and says the move hypothesis “is something I don’t get caught up in”.
Unlike his days on the farm, Evans’ brain would possibly be nowhere to be found on Sunday.
“For Manchester United to play on the same pitch as us is surreal,” he said.
“Whoever my opponent is, it would be great to have [Raphael] Varane or Casemiro’s jersey. It would be great to have one.
“You have to play the game and not the chance, but it’s less difficult said than done. When Manchester United are in town, it’s hard not to get excited. “