PETERBOROUGH boss Darren Ferguson admits his side were flattered by their 3-0 Johnstone's Paint Trophy victory at Rodney Parade and believes the Exiles can get promoted this season, writes Michael Pearlman.

The Posh boss, son of Manchester United's legendary manager Sir Alex, is now only two games from an appearance at Wembley as well as chasing League One promotion.

However, despite being only a few months removed from Peterborough being a Championship side and County a non-league outfit, Ferguson was highly impressed with Justin Edinburgh's men.

He explained: "We are very happy with the result because it was a difficult evening for us, you've got to give credit to them (Newport) because they pressed us and made it difficult for us.

"It was a tough cup tie, we couldn't capitalise on making a really good start and we know it was a closer game than a three goal scoreline suggests.

"I knew as soon as the draw was made this was going to be a really tough tie for us, Newport are decent at home and they like to get the ball in the box, they have pace about them and one or two times we didn't help ourselves, but our quality came through at the end."

On Newport's promotion aspirations, Ferguson was cautiously optimistic.

"I think promotion is a realistic aim for them, it well might be, they are well organised," he said.

"It's a tough league, but I think Newport play in a certain way that makes things difficult for the opposition.

"That is especially true at home, they made it difficult for us, but in saying that, I don't think they created many clear-cut chances against us, they had opportunities but didn't make the most of them.

"We had the quality in the end, but it was a scoreline that looked better than it really was."