NEWPORT County boss Justin Edinburgh has tasted the highs of a Premier League career as a player but insists leading the Exiles out at Wembley will be his proudest moment in football.

The former Tottenham man will visit Wembley for the sixth time on May 12 after his side drew 0-0 at Weald-stone to preserve their 3-1 aggregate advantage and set up a showdown with York City.

It is the first time in Newport’s history that they’ve reached the iconic venue and Edinburgh was hoisted aloft by ecstatic fans after the unexpected achievement in what has been a difficult season with County too close for comfort to the Conference relegation zone.

Edinburgh wants this achievement to be the watershed moment in his revival of the club and is determined to make this a historic season.

“Without a doubt this will be the proudest moment of my career, to lead a team out at Wembley is a dream come true and everything you want as a manager,” he said.

“I don’t normally get nervous, but last week it was hard not to get caught up in it. I went to Wealdstone feeling it, my wife told me not to be silly, but I knew what it meant to everyone.

“My short spell has been amazing here. It hasn’t been easy, I haven’t come to Newport and set the world alight when I first came in and the fans have played a massive part with their funding that has allowed me to bring in the players I have.

“That’s payback for them, to take them on a trip to Wembley. I am looking forward to it immensely.”

Edinburgh was pleased with the manner of victory.

“The Wealdstone goalkeeper probably felt he was at fault for the first goal in the first leg but he was magnificent on Saturday and pulled off some great saves,” he explained.

“The longer the game went on you worried it might end up backs to the wall, but credit to all the players, they were immense.

“Wayne Hatswell hadn’t played for months but he typified our performance when he came on and now we have achieved that dream of playing at Wembley.

“I had no option but to put Wayne on the bench when we lost Lee Baker in training and he led with the rest of the defence beside him, they didn’t put a foot wrong all game. He was fabulous, as everyone was on Saturday.”

Edinburgh didn’t shy away from the magnitude of the game, both from an historic and financial perspective arguably one of the biggest in County’s history.

“I told the players, you may never get a better chance than this in your whole life, they grasped it and performed well and achieved it.”

The boss is wary of dwelling on the prospect of cup glory and is already focused on the bread and butter.

“We’ve got to put this to one side now, that’s my job, it is key we forget about the Trophy final until we’ve put enough points on the board to ensure we are safe in the league.”