BOSS Michael Flynn couldn’t forgive his Newport County players if they lost at Maldon & Tiptree this Friday and then the FA Cup minnows drew Liverpool in round three.

Flynn, a lifelong supporter of Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League leaders, will be doing all he can to make sure the Exiles aren’t the victims of a second-round giant-killing in Essex (kick-off 7.55pm).

County have been the architects of some big cup upsets themselves in recent seasons, knocking the likes of Leeds United, Leicester City and Middlesbrough out of the competition on home soil.

However, the pressure will be on them at the Wallace Binder Ground, with the Isthmian League North outfit eyeing a repeat of their first-round defeat of League Two’s Leyton Orient.

County go into the tie, which is being shown live on BBC2, on the back of a disappointing 1-0 loss to Oldham Athletic – their third league Two reverse in a row.

“It’s going to be a typical blood and guts FA Cup tie and if we’re not up for it, or we think we can just turn up and turn them over, we’ll get knocked out,” said Flynn.

“It’s on TV for a reason – because they think it’s going to be a banana skin.

“We’ve been on the opposite side of it where we’ve knocked out bigger opponents and I just want to make sure that we don’t have that feeling afterwards.

“I can handle losing to a team higher up but losing to a non-league side has only happened to me once – when I was playing for Gillingham at Burscough – and I got sent off.

“I don’t think I can repeat what the manager said to me.

“It’s not a nice feeling so I’ll be doing all I can to make sure that doesn’t happen to us.

“They’ve already had a fantastic result against Leyton Orient, and we’ve watched them, so we’re not taking them lightly at all.

“They’re a team that I’m going to give 100 per cent respect to and we’ll do everything we can to prepare for it.”

Flynn, who would love to lock horns with Klopp after going up against Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola, added: “We don’t want to throw away the opportunity to reach the third round.

“Imagine if we took our foot off the gas against Maldon and then they go and draw Liverpool.

“I wouldn’t be forgiving them, that’s for sure.

“We’ll do a dossier on the opposition, like we do for every game.

“It’s a small ground, the pitch is tight, but it is what it is.

“We went to Met Police last year so it’s not like it’s our first time playing a team at that level and that experience will help us.”