NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn praised his players for a “very professional job” after they thumped 10-man Wrexham to seal an FA Cup showdown with Premier League Leicester City.

Padraig Amond, Jamille Matt and Dan Butler were all on target in the second half and a Mark Carrington own-goal completed the rout at Rodney Parade.

Wrexham saw Luke Young sent off after just 12 minutes for a reckless challenge on Mickey Demetriou.

South Wales Argus:

“I’m not sure if it was a red card, if I’m honest,” said Flynn.

“I thought it was a full-blooded challenge, but we’ve had that against us this season.

“After that I thought we were a little bit slow in our build-up. We took too many touches, we overhit crosses and passes and tried to force the issue.

“We just wanted to get into half-time and bide our time.

“We knew that if we improved the quality in the wide areas, we’d cause them problems. And that’s exactly what we did.

“I can’t praise the players enough – they’ve made the club a lot of money, which is huge for us.

“They’ve done a very professional job and I’m very proud of them.”

Flynn also praised the visitors for a spirited display.

“Wrexham are a good team and I think they’ll go very close to promotion this season,” he added.

“It was damage limitation for them in the end but I think they deserve a bit of credit as well because they were the better team in the first match.”

South Wales Argus:

Wrexham's interim boss Graham Barrow questioned whether Young deserved his red card.

"It looked fair and square to me," he told the Wrexham Leader.

"If you see both of Youngy's legs he's got deep cuts down both shins.

"My interpretation was that he got the ball first. That was key.

"We all know the lad hasn't got that malice in him to make a bad challenge.

"It never occurred to me [that it might be a red card].

"It was so quick. The red was out instantly."

South Wales Argus:

Barrow (above)  also questioned the legality of County's first goal, scored by Padraig Amond after Fraser Franks knock down from a corner.

"Obviously a lot revolves around the sending-off," he continued.

"We said we wanted to take the game step by step, but we didn't expect that to happen.

"In fairness we got to half time at 0-0 and when you are in that situation it does give you hope to pinch a result.

"Low and behold the officials let themselves down even on the first goal where there were blocks going on.

"We paid the price for playing the game with 10-men for too long."