NEWPORT County AFC captain Ryan Delaney is dreaming of another meeting with one of the Premier League big boys as the Exiles begin their FA Cup campaign at home to non-league Oldham Athletic tomorrow afternoon.

Delaney has twice been drawn against London giants Tottenham Hotspur in the world’s oldest cup competition – with former clubs Rochdale and Morecambe.

And he’d love a third crack at Spurs, or one of their top-tier rivals, with County.

But the skipper is well aware that National League outfit Oldham will have other ideas when they arrive at Rodney Parade this weekend.

“Everyone gets excited by the FA Cup, the history behind it, and it gives you an opportunity to play against some of the big boys in the Prem,” said the 27-year-old centre-back.

“I’ve played Tottenham twice – at Rochdale and at Morecambe.

“We drew with them at Rochdale in the first game and then the second game at Wembley in the snow was against the likes of Son, Lucas Moura, Moussa Demebele [Dale were beaten 6-1].

“They had a few big hitters out there and it’s things like that that you dream about when you’re growing up – you want to play against the Premier League teams.

“It gives you an opportunity to showcase yourself and it’s a proud moment for yourself, your family and everyone at the club.

“But we’ve got to do the business against Oldham before we look too far ahead.

“It won’t be easy. Oldham are a very good team, they’ve got a strong squad and I think we’ll have to be really at it.”

County will be aiming to bounce back quickly from Tuesday’s disappointing 1-0 home defeat by West Ham United under-21s in the EFL Trophy.

“I think, looking back at it, there were large parts of the game where we were doing well and similar to last Saturday [a 2-0 win at Gillingham in League Two],” said Delaney, who was speaking at yesterday’s Utilita Football Festival at Rodney Parade.

“But we didn’t take our chances and, towards the end of the game, we probably went away a little bit from what we were doing in the first 60 minutes.

“It’s a learning curve and people got minutes, so we can’t get too down about it.

“We had a big result last Saturday to kick start us again, and we’ve got another big one coming up.”

Exiles boss Graham Coughlan will hope that Scot Bennett recovers from a knock that forced him off on Tuesday after the 32-year-old helped earn a first clean sheet since August at Gillingham.

“Benno is massively experienced, he’s played in the League for so long and he can play in a number of different positions,” said Delaney.

“It was a smooth transition, and he passed his experience on to all of us.

“That game showed what we’re capable of. And, that’s been the frustration this year; we’ve done it one week and the next week we don’t.

“I think we just have to stick together as a unit. We have a good squad of players and we have shown that we’ve got the capabilities and characteristics to do well as a group.”