FORMER Newport County AFC assistant manager Dino Maamria has accused his old club of trying to deceive the referee during the New Year’s Day match at Stevenage.

Boro boss Maamria, who was a County employee during Graham Westley’s reign in the 2016-2017 season, was angry after his team were reduced to 10 men against the Exiles.

Kurtis Guthrie was sent off for a reckless challenge on Fraser Franks but Maamria felt that decision was wrong and he wasn’t happy with the visitors’ conduct.

“It’s the second red card in a matter of days,” said Maamria, whose side beat County 1-0.

“The one at Crewe was never a red card either and we don’t want to have this reputation.

“We’re not a dirty team. We’re very fair, we don’t dive around like the opposition do and we don’t try to get the opposition sent off.

“I’m not going to start teaching my players to dive around and cheat and earn things, like they [County] did and like Crewe did on Saturday.

“We’re a fair team and we want fair decisions.”

Maamria felt his side deserved the victory against Michael Flynn’s men.

“Second half I thought there was only one team that was going to win it and that was us,” he said.

“I thought we were on the front foot throughout and we were always a threat.

“We were the better team with 10 men against a good Newport side, who are going to be up there at the end of the season.

“Clubs like us and Newport have similar budgets and we’re always going to have difficult periods,” he added.

“They’re a good team and Flynny is a good manager and hopefully we can both be up there at the end of the season.

“I like Newport a lot. I’ve got a lot of time for their staff, their directors and their fans and I genuinely hope they can beat Leicester on Sunday.”