Newport County manager Graham Coughlan admitted he was dreaming of FA Cup glory and a replay trip to Old Trafford until Manchester United put an end to those ambitions with a 4-2 victory.

 

In a dramatic FA Cup third round tie at Rodney Parade, County belied their lowly standing of 16th place in the fourth tier with a committed performance sprinkled with some attacking moments of real quality.

 

United established early command against opponents 76 places below them in the pyramid, Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo – with his first senior goal – producing excellent strikes.

 

But Bryn Morris and Will Evans scored either side of half-time and United were in danger of becoming victims of a seismic giant-killing act before Antony and Rasmus Hojlund struck in the final quarter.

 

Exiles boss Graham Coughlan revealed United manager Erik Ten Hag had given him “a nice little bottle of red wine” after the game, and admitted that he was contemplating a major upset after United had been pegged back.

 

Coughlan said: “I was dreaming at two-all. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb first 10 or 15 minutes.

 

“You can’t start a football game like that against that quality of opposition.

 

“They hit us hard, they were clinical and we learned quickly what the Premiership is all about in that first 10 or 15 minutes.

 

“This group of players represent me. I would never wave the white flag and that group wouldn’t either.

 

“It doesn’t take that – a fourth-round cup tie against United and coming down from 2-0 down to peg them back 2-2 – for me to be immensely proud of them. I love working with this group. They’re a brilliant group of lads.

 

“It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t reach our cup final, which would have been a replay at Old Trafford.”

 

On United’s late show costing County a lucrative replay, Coughlan added: “It was just unfortunate we couldn’t reach our cup final and go back to Old Trafford.

 

“I thought we had them at two-all. They were rattled. They could have gone under, and that’s a strange thing for a League Two manager to say.

 

“But the Premier League class shone through, so full credit to United.”

 

Ten Hag said: “The first 35 minutes it was very dominant. We did not give the opponent any chance and should have been three, four, five-nil up.

 

“Out of nothing they score a goal and straight after half-time again.

 

“We have to be critical of bad defending in transition. Poor defending from the cross, it’s 2-2, and they turned it around.

 

“But you see how resilient we are. We stayed calm, went back in our game, got the third and fourth goal, so job done.”

 

Newport have joined Cardiff City and Swansea City in having exited the FA Cup, but Wrexham can keep the flag flying for the Welsh clubs when they travel to Blackburn Rovers on Monday night for their fourth round tie.

 

Having won the National League title last season to end a 15-year exile from the English Football League, Wrexham are once more in the hunt for promotion.

 

The team lying second in League Two take on a Blackburn side who reached the quarter-finals of last season’s FA Cup before their run was ended by Sheffield United.

 

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said: “We have had some really tough games but got to this stage and what a great opportunity for us to go to Ewood Park with 7,000 fans behind us.

 

“What a great occasion that will be for our players and our supporters to be part of that.

 

‘It is a game to really look forward to and like we have done in the cup before, it is about going there and giving a good account of ourselves.

 

“The supporters who came across to Bramall Lane last year, that was an incredible night.”

 

Tune into the Sportin Wales podcast to hear Newport County’s Will Evans review of the Man United game!