LEVI Sutton’s expression revealed that it had not been forgotten.

The mention of Newport and that last-gasp penalty brought back painful memories for the City midfielder.

“Yeah, I had a bit of a stinker down there,” he sighed, recalling his hand ball that helped the Exiles to clinch a come-from-behind victory.

“It was a hard one to take with it being last minute. I remember sitting in the dressing room after the game absolutely gutted because I felt like I had let everyone down.

“That has to be put behind us but I still remember it. So yeah, we do owe them one.”

Sutton returns to south Wales this weekend – if not the actual scene of the crime after last season’s game was switched to Cardiff – in a far more positive frame of mind.

His return to the starting line-up as the Bantams beat Rochdale received plenty of plaudits – although surprisingly not the man of the match accolade from the sponsors who opted for team-mate Elliot Watt.

Sutton had a hand in both goals – and was involved in a penalty incident at the right end after a lung-busting run that covered half the length of the Valley Parade pitch.

He said: “I’m fairly quick so as soon as I saw it was their centre half I knew I had a chance.

“I was in our half when we started it and the next minute I’m in their box and he’s pulling me over.

“I was just delighted to get the penalty because I was knackered from the run. I couldn’t even get my head up to see who was in the box.

“Two seconds later I went past him and then passed out of play because I literally could not move! I was so tired.”

Andy Cook converted the spot-kick but, like the match sponsors in the banqueting seats, seemed to overlook Sutton’s stellar contribution.

“The penalty gets given and Andy comes over and takes the ball,” laughed Sutton. “He doesn’t even say thank you to me.

“I spoke to him in the shower afterwards and said, Cheers Andy!”

Sutton’s box-to-box energy injected some enthusiasm and dynamism into City’s play in his first league start since the opening game.

But he knows that he must maintain those standards to keep impressing Derek Adams and hold on to his place.

“Any player not playing will be disappointed, that’s only natural. I went into the game wanting to stake my claim and I think I did that.

“But I could have a stinker on Saturday and then I’m the worst player in the world. It’s swings and roundabouts with football.

“I know what I can do and what I can bring to this team.

“But we’ve also got enough quality in the squad for anybody to be taken out and I don’t think you’d really notice. I know I’ve got to fight for this shirt now and hopefully I can keep it.

“The manager’s got a proven track record of getting clubs out of this division. So, he’s obviously doing something right.

“Promotion is what we want. It has to be the play-offs at least for this club.

“When I came to this club last year I wanted to get promoted.

“Obviously the start wasn’t great but when we picked up, in my head I was thinking, ‘let’s get promoted’.

“It didn’t go that way in the end but the minimum is we need to be in the play-offs.”

Newport were pipped by Adams’ Morecambe at Wembley – their second play-off final defeat in three seasons.

Morecambe’s success was proof to Sutton that no opponent should be taken for granted.

“You wouldn’t say at the start of last season that Morecambe would be where they were. You wouldn’t expect them to be anywhere near with the budget they had.

“But it goes to show that any club in this league will be trying to push for the play-offs. They’ll all be wanting to get promoted this year.”