GRAHAM BARROW launched a defence of Luke Young - and questioned whether he should have been sent-off.

Young was adjudged to have been reckless when challenging with Mickey Demetriou 13 minutes into Wrexham's FA Cup second round replay with Newport County, and referee Kevin Johnson showed no hesitation in producing the red card.

It proved a pivotal moment in the then goalless game as Newport ran out commanding 4-0 winners to book a third round home clash with Leicester City.

On the sending-off, interim boss Barrow said: "It looked fair and square to me.

"If you see both of Youngy's legs he's got deep cuts down both shins.

"My interpretation was that he got the ball first. That was key.

"We all know the lad hasn't got that malice in him to make a bad challenge.

"It never occurred to me (that it might be a red card).

"It was so quick. The red was out instantly."

Barrow also questioned the legality of Newport's first goal, scored by Padraig Amond after Fraser Franks knock down from a corner.

"Obviously a lot revolves around the sending-off," he continued.

"We said we wanted to take the game step by step, but we didn't expect that to happen.

"In fairness we got to half time at 0-0 and when you are in that situation it does give you hope to pinch a result.

"Low and behold the officials let themselves down even on the first goal where there were blocks going on.

"We paid the price for playing the game with 10-men for too long."