By Paul Jones

Graham Coughlan admitted he was contemplating a major upset after seeing his Newport County team equalise against Manchester United.

United survived a massive FA Cup fright at Rodney Parade as the League Two minnows
fought back to 2-2 after conceding twice inside the opening 13 minutes.

But Newport’s dream died as Antony and Rasmus Hojlund struck in the final quarter for a 4-2 win, sending United through to the fifth round and a meeting with either Bristol City with Nottingham Forest.

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Newport manager Coughlan said: “I was dreaming at 2-2. 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.”

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 2-2. 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.”

This week’s Mail on Sunday column on Newport County, getting your teeth kicked in and soul. These are the clubs that make the FA Cup what it is, not Manchester United.https://t.co/3gDwrkQRYu via @MailSport

— Riath Al-Samarrai (@riathalsam) January 27, 2024

Meanwhile, United boss Erik ten Hag promised to deal with the absence of Marcus Rashford after the England striker missed the game.

Rashford reported ill on Friday after reportedly spending the previous evening at a Belfast nightclub.

“He reported ill,” Ten Hag said. “The rest is internal matter. I deal with it, we will deal with it.”

Ten Hag said there was a “no good culture” when he arrived at United in 2022 and he has encountered disciplinary issues during his Old Trafford tenure.

United misfit Jadon Sancho returned to Borussia Dortmund on loan earlier this month after falling out with the Dutchman.

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Asked if Rashford was another example of that “no good culture”, Ten Hag said: “I don’t go in this case. We talked before about it, we played a good game, and now we move on.”

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.

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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.”

Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw were all back in the starting line-up after injury, while Harry Maguire made a late cameo for his first appearance since December 12.

“I know the character from Licha (Martinez), Casemiro, Luke Shaw, (Raphael) Varane, Bruno, Antony, (Alejandro) Garnacho, Hojlund. All fighters,” Ten Hag added.

“Sometimes you are in this situation. It was a bad pitch, but we totally dominated them for 35 minutes.”

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