Eric Ten Hag gifted Graham Coughlan with an expensive bottle of red wine, but the Newport chief did not drink it.

The Exiles manager, a lifetime Manchester United fan, was pleased with his team’s performance, which saw them come back from 2-0 down to equalize before losing 4-2.

Sir Alex Ferguson chose a £230 bottle of 2013 Antinori Tignanello as a post-match gift for Newport’s manager, Erik Ten Hag.

However, Ten Hag was thrilled by Newport’s performance and generously presented his colleague with some plonk.

While Coughlan was speaking to the media on the pitch, Ten Hag approached him to shake his hand and present him with a bottle of 2013 Antinori Tignanello, which retails for £230 and was chosen by Sir Alex Ferguson himself.

The Dutchman announced, “We have a small gift for you.”

Coughlan, who was born in Dublin, then responded jokingly: “Brilliant.” “You know, I don’t drink wine; I drink Budweiser.”

Ten Hag responded, “Really, Budweiser?” American beer? But Sir Alex chose a really good one, so perhaps your wife would enjoy it.

“Perhaps have a taste; I believe you will enjoy it. “Well done tonight.”

Following the gift, Coughlan told SunSport: “He got me a nice little bottle of red wine – but don’t tell him I don’t like red wine.

“But we had a few words later. He congratulated us, thanked us for our hospitality, and discussed the difficult difficulties this club has had throughout the years.

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“It’s difficult for him right now. I told him to stay in there because that was what we needed to do. We had to demonstrate character and resilience at times, and that is exactly what he must do at Manchester United. “I wished him the best.”

Coughlan expressed his disappointment that his County squad was unable to at least secure a draw and set up a large pay-day replay at Old Trafford, stating that was the objective they had all set after learning the winner would face either Nottingham Forest or Bristol City.

He said: “It’s disappointing that we weren’t able to advance to our cup final, which would have been a replay against Manchester United. That was our intention.

“I believed at 2-2, we had them. I believed they were rattled since they were acting out of character. We only needed one moment of quality, but we did not put the goalie to the test.

“The superior team won, and their Premier League talent shone through against League Two.

“It was just a shame that when Luke Shaw’s shot struck the post, it didn’t go out of play or somewhere other than directly to Antony. This was unfortunate for us.

“You need a bit of luck and it just deserted us there but I’m still proud of this group of players.”