Bruno Fernandes sends four-word message to Kobbie Mainoo after teenager's Newport goal

Bruno Fernandes sent a message of encouragement to Kobbie Mainoo after the teenager’s performance against Newport County.

On Sunday Manchester United overcame a scare against League Two’s Newport to win 4-2 at Rodney Park and book their place into the FA Cup fifth round.

Fernandes broke the deadlock early in the first half before Kobbie Mainoo swept home his first senior goal.

But Newport reignited the tie courtesy of a Bryn Morris' thunderbolt that deflected off Lisandro Martinez and beyond Altay Bayindir.

Boyhood United fan Will Evans then stunned his Premier League opponents by levelling proceedings with his 19th goal of the campaign.

Antony, however, reclaimed United’s lead from close range before Rasmus Hojlund bundled home to seal the win.

Among United’s most impressive performers was Mainoo, who beyond his goal, was a calm presence in midfield.

And United skipper Bruno Fernandes was quick to praise his midfield partner on Instagram after the game. Fernandes shared a photo of Mainoo celebrating his goal, alongside the caption: “First of many, kid”.

Moreover, the Portugal international praised United’s performance as a whole when speaking to the BBC after the game.

He said: “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. We didn’t want to concede goals, the first one was great from them, an unbelievable shot.

Mainoo scored his first professional goal against Newport (Getty)

“We had chances to make the 3-0 but when you get 2-0 in these types 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.”

On his goal, Fernandes added: “It was a good goal but we trained on it in the week. We knew that we had spaces with the cutback. Kobbie Mainoo’s goal was the same. We knew we could attack and overrun their midfield, we had space for the cutback and I think it resulted well.”

Topics: Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Manchester United, FA Cup, Premier League, Football

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.