NEWPORT County AFC manager Justin Edinburgh says his side have made giant strides in the past 12 months.

The Exiles boss was disappointed to bow out of the Capital One Cup with a 3-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday.

But he was proud of his side’s battling display against the Premier League outfit and says the result needs to be put in context.

“We don’t like losing and it hasn’t happened to us too much lately but we’ve been beaten by a Premiership side,” said Edinburgh.

“We played against international players in an unbelievable arena.

“This time last year we were playing at Braintree so we have to embrace the fact that we’ve come a long way in a short space of time.”

Tuesday’s tie was all but over after just 37 minutes when Baggies debutant Saido Berahino slotted his penalty past County ’keeper Lenny Pidgeley to complete his hat-trick.

Edinburgh criticised his side’s defending but admitted that Saturday’s League Two clash with Scunthorpe United was always his priority this week.

“I think we were disappointed to come off at half-time 3-0 down because we started brightly and found a good rhythm,” he said.

“But we came up against Premier League quality because they had three shots and scored three goals.

“The goals weren’t great goals from our point of view. The second strike was good but he should have been shown outside. That’s fundamental.

“But overall I’m proud of my players. They acquitted themselves well and went right to the end, as I expected them to.

“We had nothing to lose and everything to gain from the night and we certainly haven’t done ourselves any harm.

“We had a go and we didn’t let the fans down because there were 1,700 there and that is more than my first home game so that says a lot.

“There is no shame in getting beat by a Premiership side,” he added.

“If it had become a rout it could have derailed our momentum so we were glad not to concede after the break.”

And Edinburgh insisted that he had no regrets about resting regular starters David Pipe, Chris Zebroski and Christian Jolley in favour of Ryan Jackson, Danny Crow and Conor Washington.

“I had to be fair to the group,” he said. “The ones who came in needed minutes and they didn’t let us down but the league is our priority, not the Capital One Cup.”