IT’S a measure of how Newport County AFC have raised expectations over the past few years that there is disappointment when they exit the FA Cup in the third round at the home of a high-flying Championship club.

Long-term fans won’t need reminding that County didn’t make it beyond round two between 1986 and 2015.

But, hopefully, the days of being dumped out by the likes of Paulton Rovers and Yate Town are long gone.

After beating Leeds United, Leicester City and Middlesbrough over the past two years and pushing Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City all the way, Michael Flynn’s men have rightly earned a reputation as giant-killers.

And many of the 877 travelling fans, who created a great noise in the away end at The Den, will have genuinely believed that their side had a chance of causing another big shock.

South Wales Argus:

Sadly, the Exiles couldn’t upset the odds this time against an impressive Millwall side showing seven changes from their last Championship fixture.

But a fourth appearance in the third round in five years is an achievement in itself and it has brought with it another six-figure boost to the coffers.

And it certainly wasn’t the embarrassment that some pessimists feared following County’s struggles in League Two over the past few months.

They recovered from going behind in the seventh minute, when a sliced clearance from George Nurse allowed Matt Smith to score at the far post, and battled hard to remain in the game before racing out of the blocks after the break.

And the outcome could have been very different if Jamille Matt or Padraig Amond had levelled on 53 minutes.

Matt forced Bartosz Bialkowski into a save after Mark O’Brien’s lobbed through-ball but Amond could only stab the rebound wide when he really should have extended his remarkable FA Cup scoring run to nine successive ties.

And that proved to be the pivotal moment as O’Brien then fouled Jon Dadi Bodvarsson to allow the lively Connor Mahoney to score from the spot in the 64th minute before substitute Tom Bradshaw added a third with a smart finish on 82 minutes.

South Wales Argus:

It was comfortable for the hosts in the end, but Millwall assistant manager Callum Davidson admitted that his side were worried by their League Two opponents.

“It was a tough game,” said Gary Rowett’s number two.

“They made it quite difficult for us and with their recent exploits in the FA Cup, we knew it was going to be a tough game.

“They’re obviously very physical and they put us under a lot of pressure with balls forward.

“I wouldn’t say they played the long ball, but they put balls forward and put us under pressure.

“We got an early goal, which probably settled us down a little bit.

“In these kind of cup games we know if the underdogs get the first goal it becomes really tough so we were delighted to get that.

“But we knew they would worry us,” added Davidson. “They’re physically strong, they use their bodies really well and they use their strengths.

“They play in League Two and that’s why they play that style; that’s the best way to play in that league.

“They did worry us. We started poorly in the second half and when they missed that chance it probably woke us up a little bit.

“Then we started to get back into it and we got the penalty at the right time, which kind of settled the whole game down for us.”

County: King; Bennett, O’Brien, Demetriou, Haynes (Whitely, 74); Sheehan, Labadie (Dolan, 80); Abrahams (Collins, 79), Amond, Nurse; Matt

Subs not used: Townsend, Inniss, Jefferies, Poleon

Referee: Tony Harrington

Attendance: 6,009 (877 County)