TO many, Newport County's heroic draw with Second Division Blackpool was a surprise - but to the Exiles fans it was not.

As Newport quite often seem to lose games against sides on their own level while they cause surprises against higher placed teams.

The Tangerines sent a scout to check on Newport's last three games against Rhyl in the FAW Premier Cup, Hinckley United in the Dr Marten's League Premier Division and Bath City in the Dr Marten's Cup.

But if he was at Bloomfield Road on Saturday afternoon - watching their hard-working two-all draw - he would have thought he was observing a different team.

Newport's fans know how well they can play when they put their minds to it - and how they did against Blackpool! Each of them deserve a medal!

Only a late penalty with 14 minutes on the clock saved Blackpool and gave them a get out of jail free card. The otherwise excellent Jason Perry brought down Martin Bullock as he dashed into the box, the ref pointed to the spot - and supersub Neil MacKenzie slid the ball home.

Before that, County took the lead twice through an Ian Hughes own goal and a Billy Clark tap in with Tommy Jaszczun scoring in between.

County were absolutely magnificent, superb, quality - or whatever adjective you want to use. Every man from one to 11 did their job - and did it well.

And their confidence going into the FA Cup First Round clash came not only from the fans but from the players and management.

My 8am wake-up call from Newport boss Tim Harris on the day of the match was 'get up, there's going to be a cup upset today'.

And he was almost right.

Harris and his number two Jason Perry had done their home-work alright. They had been up to Bloomfield Road themselves to watch the Seasiders in action, watched and analysed four videos and six scouting reports from different Second Division clubs.

They knew as much about Blackpool as Blackpool did themselves. They knew where the game could be won and lost - and County even knew how Blackpool's players tied up their boot laces.

The tactical knowledge was spot-on and that is what gave them this monumental draw. They won all the knock-downs, they won all the second balls, all the physical and physiological battles.

And Harris chose a different formation with five in midfield adding Nathan Davies in the centre of the park to help Jason Perry and Matt Rose.

But when you see the players and fans when the final whistle went you would have thought they had just been beaten. They were absolutely gutted, a feeling that cannot be described in this newspaper's column inches.

They out-battled Blackpool, 75 places above them in the English pyramid system, and should have won.

The defensive back-line were magnificent and Pool's 18-goal striker Brett Ormerod didn't get a real look-in. They have come in for some criticism over the past couple of weeks and some of that quite rightly, but they used of all of their experience and wealth of league knowledge to gobble up nearly everything that came their way.

And by the time the replay comes a week today (7:45pm) Ormerod may no longer be a Blackpool player. The Seasiders have turned down a £1.5 million bid from fellow Second Division team Wigan Athletic and a £1 million faxed bid from Premiership Southampton. And with other top flight sides like Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers interested he might not be at Bloomfield Road for much longer.

County's midfielders, with Perry as the holding player, were well disciplined and always quick with their tackles. They did well, breaking up move after move - and they always broke quickly.

Garry Shephard did well on his own up-front. His running and work rate was immense and he never gave up anything.

Newport started brightest and went for Blackpool's throat early on.

County's 970 travelling fans huddled together in the corner of the East Paddock at Bloomfield Road sang throughout - and they had plenty to sing about in the 18th minute when Blackpool centre-back Ian Hughes put the ball into his own net to put the Welshmen one-up.

Perry headed the ball into the box towards Shephard. The striker turned his marker Tommy Jaszczun, got to the by-line and cut the ball back and it should have been an easy take for keeper James Pullen but the stopper, on-loan from Ipswich Town, fumbled the ball across his goal-line and under-pressure from the superb Darren Ryan, Hughes put it into his own net.

The exiles kept the pressure up and Ryan could have doubled the lead a minute before Blackpool equalised but he could not divert Shephard's right-wing cross into the net. Within a minute, the home side were level through former Aston Villa centre-back Jaszczun. A right-wing corner by Jamie Milligan was headed onto the post by Hughes and Jaszczun was first to react to lash the ball home.

The question was then how County would react - and they could not have reacted better. Within five minutes they were ahead again through centre-half Billy Clark.

Shephard chased after what looked to be a lost cause but turned it into a corner. Ryan swung in a right-wing corner that Pullen dropped - and Clark was on hand to tap home. John Murphy, returning from injury, should have levelled for Pool in stoppage time at the end of the first half but he dragged his shot wide.

The second-half Blackpool threw everything at Newport launching wave upon wave of attacks but they could not break them down.

Ormerod had a good chance to score when he found space in the box five minutes into the second period but he lashed his shot wide when he should have hit the target at least.

County were soaking up the immense Blackpool pressure well and Blackpool wondered where an equaliser was going to come from when the ref pointed to the spot after Perry's lunge on Bullock.

MacKenzie sent County keeper Pat Mountain the wrong way to give Blackpool and their boss Steve McMahon a second bite of the cherry.

County's players were looking weary at the end and were hanging on a bit - they looked gutted as they walked off. But if they had been offered a 2-2 draw before the match it would have been snapped up.

After playing in their black and blue third kit as both their amber home kit and white away kit clashed with the Seasiders' tangerine kit with white sleeves, County's players did not have chance to celebrate their heroics as they have got an important game against Camarthen Town tonight at Newport Stadium (7:30pm) in the lucrative FAW Premier Cup.