FA CUP match-winner Padraig Amond insists Newport County AFC “fully expected” to beat former Premier League champions Leicester City on Sunday and now they’re ready to kick-on in League Two.

Amond kept his cool five minutes from time to fire in the winning goal from the penalty spot against the Foxes after Rachid Ghezzal cancelled out Jamille Matt’s first-half opener.

And the victory was no less than the Exiles players expected, despite their poor run of form in the league.

“It is a fantastic group of players led by a fantastic group of staff,” said Amond. “The togetherness is there.

“Nobody outside our dressing room expected us to get a result but we expected fully to get a result, even though results haven’t been great in the league recently.

“Everybody will probably mention the poor results in the league and then point out that we got up for this one.

“But that’s probably why we’re playing in League Two. It’s just the consistency levels.

“We can beat anyone on any given day but what we need to do is start producing week in and week out.”

County are without a win in League Two since November 27 and are now 13th in the table, albeit with games in hand on their rivals.

And Amond, who netted his 16th goal of the season against Leicester, squandered several opportunities against Crawley Town and Stevenage.

“We should have won the last two games and we wouldn’t be having this inquest if I hadn’t missed all those chances,” he admitted.

“But that’s just life. You go through [difficult] periods.

“I could have been in Stevenage for four hours [on New Year’s Day] and I wouldn’t have scored.

“That’s just the way it was but if we can bring this result into the league then hopefully results will be a lot better.

“And if this is the difference for us being able to get in that player or one or two extra players to push us on in the league as well, that’ll be a great opportunity for the club.

“We’ve beaten a good side and we’ve shown that we are good players. It’s just about trying to get the consistency levels right and who knows where that can take us?”

It was announced last week that Amond has signed a new deal to stay at the club until the end of the 2019-2020 season.

“It was triggered a few weeks ago but this is a fantastic way to celebrate it,” said the 30-year-old. "I’m really enjoying my time here. It’s great to play for the staff here and with this bunch of players. They are fantastic lads. Everybody ran themselves into the ground.

“And I thought the crowd were fantastic; when Leicester scored the lifted us right back up.

“We pushed on for the victory – probably because we’ve had too many games recently and we didn’t want the replay at Leicester!”