Soccer
Erik ten Hag explains Newport County fight-back as Manchester United survive FA Cup scare
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Manchester United defeated Newport County 4-2 in their fourth-round FA Cup tie on Sunday, but the match was anything but straightforward for the Red Devils.
United appeared firmly in control to start the match, with Bruno Fernandes' opening goal followed quickly by Kobbie Mainoo strike that put the Premier League side up by two goals against their League Two opposition. The Red Devils continued to pressure and came close to adding more goals in the first half but instead it was Newport who scored via Bryn Morris in the 36th minute. That set up a 47th-minute equaliser by Will Evans that put United in real danger of becoming the story of this season's FA Cup, but order returned with Antony's 68th-minute goal followed by a stoppage-time strike by Rasmus Hojlund to put the result beyond doubt.
That the 20-time champions of England's top tier needed two late goals to put away a fourth-division side is indicative of the kind of season it's been for Man United, but after the final whistle manager Erik ten Hag preferred to look at the positives — although he did lay blame at his team's defending as a reason for Newport's ability to come back from a two-goal deficit.
"The first 35 minutes minutes were very comfortable leading 2-0," Ten Hag told BBC One. "It should have been 3-0 or 4-0.
"They (Newport) created chances out of nothing. Our defence transition was not great. We had to start again to win this game and we did. Well done boys."
United captain Bruno Fernandes agreed with his manager that, while the result could've been better, ultimately the team's ability to respond to adversity was the true takeaway for the Red Devils.
"Obviously it was not the result that we wanted, we got the win that we wanted but the result was not the perfect one for us," Fernandes told BBC One. "We didn't want to concede goals, the first one was great from them, an unbelievable shot.
"We had chances to make the 3-0 but when you get 2-0 in these type of games everyone wanted to score and get their goal and everything and sometimes we don't get the best decision for the team. I think after we did a great job to close the game."
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