Matty Dolan had his dad rocking in his wheelchair on Saturday night and now he wants to freewheel rolling Newport into the last 16 of the FA Cup.
The County midfielder was the toast of two cities – Newport and Newcastle – after firing home the goal that earned his side an FA Cup fourth round replay at Rodney Parade against his former club Middlesbrough next week.
Born into a Newcastle United-mad family in Hartlepool, Dolan was schooled in football at Boro from the age of six to 21.
He left five years ago having never made a first-team appearance and so was very happy to return to finally score his first senior goal at the Riverside.
It was a moment that he will no doubt savour for the rest of his career, but his greatest memory will be of his father “bobbing up and down” in his wheelchair. He went to the game in the chair having fallen over and injured himself recently.
“It’s a pretty special moment in my career and it’s massive for the club to get the replay. I saw my dad bobbing about in his wheelchair and it was nice for him,” admitted Dolan, who equalised in the 93rd minute.
“He’s a Newcastle fan and so he thoroughly enjoyed that moment – I saw a big smile on his face at the end, which was lovely. Quite a lot of my mates are Newcastle fans as well, so I think I made their weekend.
“A lot of them came down and sat in with the Newport fans, so it was nice to score a goal for them. It was a special occasion.”
Time was running out for the Exiles, who were trailing to a 51st minute goal from Boro’s Spanish defender Daniel Ayala, when Flynn turned to his experienced midfielder three minutes from the end of normal time.
It was the last throw of the dice as the League Two team tried to take Tony Pulis and his side back to his native Newport next week to battle for a fifth round tie. Dolan could have got on a little bit earlier, but he forgot to tape up his socks.
“The fourth official wouldn’t let me on unless I taped my socks up. The gaffer was fuming at me,” admitted Dolan.
“I was a bit disappointed not to start, but the gaffer told me to get on and get myself a goal and I did that. I’m still a bit in shock – it was a pretty special moment for myself.
“Middlesbrough invested a lot of time in me as a young lad and I was there from the age of six right the way up to 21. I spent a lot of time there, but never really broke through, so it was nice to play at the Riverside again and I topped it off with the goal.”
Having only been given a handful of minutes to make an impact Dolan saved his best effort for virtually the last kick of the match. Having seen Antoine Semenyo blast the best chance of the game for the visitors over the bar moments earlier, Dolan made no mistake when his opportunity came.
“Josh Sheehan whipped the cross in and I nearly got a nosebleed being that far up the pitch, but I just managed to slot it into the bottom corner,” said Dolan.
“Afterwards it was mayhem and it really gave the fans something to celebrate. There were incredible scenes and I think it was what we deserved in the end.
“I thought the lads were fantastic and once you go on you just hope to make an impact. Thankfully, I did that and it was magic at the end.
“It was a long trip for our fans and they came up in great numbers. It’ll be nice to take them back to Rodney Parade and make a game of it.
“It’ll be a tough night for Boro. You only have to look at Cup results against Tottenham, Leeds and Leicester to understand that.”