SWINDON Town U18s manager Alan McLoughlin hailed the resilience of his side after they made serene progress into the second round of the FA Youth Cup with a 6-2 win at home to Newport County at the weekend.

Sol Pryce had given the home side an early lead at the County Ground before Town were reduced to 10 men when Jacob Bancroft was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Newport’s Jay Williams.

Town did not let that hold them back, though, and Ollie Rejek put them 2-0 up at the break, much to the delight of the 250 watching home fans.

Newport flew out of the traps in the second half and were level with eight minutes of the restart through efforts from Michael Cook and Archie Marshall.

Swindon rallied and swiftly wrestled back control of the contest when Luke Haines restored their lead and further goals from Pryce, Rejek and Teoman Atik gave the scoreline an emphatic feel before the end.

“It was a fantastic achievement considering we played 75 minutes with 10 men,” said McLoughlin.

“Overall, to go down to 10 men and be that dominant, apart from a 15 to 20-minute spell, we are more than happy with it.

“Every player played their part and I feel a little bit sorry for Jacob, he was obviously frustrated with the red card, but everyone dug in.

“I think there were 250 people at the County Ground, and I thank them for coming along, and I think they witnessed a fantastic display even with a man less.

“We warned the players at half-time, as every manager does, that the opposition will react to the situation and we started a little bit flat in the second half.

“At that point, it’s important not to get on the players’ backs. We were calm and I just asked for a little bit more, for them to be braver in possession and that’s exactly what happened and then we finished with a flurry.”

McLoughlin felt Bancroft was hard done by to be given his marching orders so early in the game but was delighted with how well his young players responded in the face of adversity.

“Jacob was sent off from his very first tackle and I thought it was the wrong decision. He got the ball first, in my opinion, and then his momentum and the opposition player’s momentum took them into each other,” said McLoughlin.

“I will wait to see it on video and if it proves differently, I will hold my hands up and say fair enough, but I was three yards away from it.

“We couldn’t change the decision but we didn’t panic and credit to Jeremy Newton (Academy manager), who was very positive in his assessment of the situation to leave two up front because we were comfortable with three at the back and four in midfield.

“We didn’t leave one up front and sit in, we still played positive football.”

Town have been drawn at home to Northampton Town in the second round.