By Matthew Jones
December 6 2004

Graeme Souness' men may be facing an FA Cup Third Round tie against Ryman Premier League side Yeading, but the Scot has warned his players not to underestimate the non-league outfit, who currently lie top of their league, having clinched the Ryman League Divison One last season.

The fixture will be played on the weekend of the 8th and 9th of January, but at the moment the venue of the game is still to be decided.  Yeading's ground only holds 3,000, although the game could be played at Brentford or Queen's Park Rangers if the stadium does not meet Football Association safety requirements - or even at St James' Park, although it is believed that Yeading want a 'home' tie.

Newcastle United were embarrassed at non-league Hereford in 1972 and struggled against encounter Conference side Stevenage Borough in 1998.

The Scot admitted:

"I don't even know where Yeading is, and while I have contacts in football throughout the world, I must admit I have nothing on them.

"It's a famous draw for them getting Newcastle United at home, but while it's obviously a potential banana skin, we don't want to make them even more famous.

"I've been on the wrong end of cup upsets before. I was player-manager of Rangers when we were beaten 1-0 by Hamilton Academical, and in my latter days at Liverpool, Bristol City came up to Anfield in an FA Cup replay and beat us.

"Everybody knows that you can play games like this on the wrong day and suffer, but we have good players at Newcastle United. Good players should be able to adapt to playing under any conditions and I'm confident we will be able to deal with this tie."