Twelve-time FA Cup winners Manchester United gave up a two-goal lead before escaping Rodney Parade with a 4–2 win over fourth-tier Welsh team Newport County.
Antony scored in the 68th minute for last year’s FA Cup runners-up Manchester United as Newport – ranked 76 places below United in England’s football pyramid – came back from two goals down.
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“We controlled the game, maybe we went a little slow,” United manager Eric ten Hag told the BBC. “We had a chance to go 3-0 up. (Alejandro) Garnacho hit the crossbar. (Newport) had nothing, really nothing and then they scored a goal.”
Bruno Fernandes, 18-year-old Kobi Manu and Rasmus Hjölund also scored for United, who scored two goals in an FA Cup match against a fourth-tier team for the first time since 1970 (against Northampton Town).
United captain Fernandes said, “Obviously it wasn’t the result we wanted, we got the win we wanted but the result wasn’t quite right for us. We didn’t want to concede a goal.”
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“We know that in order not to make the season look as bad as it has been, we have to try to win this trophy… We know how much the FA Cup means to our fans, our club, our country And that’s how important it is for us too. We want to go to the final and win.”
Goals from Brian Morris and Will Evans either side of halftime gave Newport real hope of earning a lucrative replay at Old Trafford, but ultimately the firepower of the Premier League team proved too much.
Newport manager Graham Coughlan told the BBC: “The best team won, they played brilliantly when they got their chances.
“At 2-2 the ball comes off the post and falls to Antony. I thought at 2-2 we could possibly force a replay if we could weather the storm. The class looked in them.”
United will face either Bristol City or Nottingham Forest in the fifth round, depending on who wins the replay on 7 February.
