THOMAS Christiansen admits Kemar Roofe has put his hand up to be Chris Wood's long-term replacement after scoring a hat-trick in Leeds' 5-1 Carabao Cup victory over Newport.

Roofe endured a tough first season at Elland Road and had struggled for form in the early weeks of the new campaign.

Yet he was given the opportunity to play through the middle for the first time following Wood's move to Burnley and he took it emphatically – to the delight of his head coach.

Christiansen said: "We know the quality of Roofe. He can play up front, he's done that before. We knew what he could give.

"In his first appearance as a striker, to score three goals is very good. He could be an option long term. If you see how he played up front today, he scored nice goals.

"We can still play the direct way, we can play with balls in the space and we can play into his feet. We have many possibilities if we should play with him."

Roofe crucially equalised on the stroke of half-time after Joss Labadie had given Newport a deserved lead and then scored again just after the restart to take the wind out of the League Two side's sails.

The former Oxford forward completed his hat-trick with a spectacular overhead kick before late goals from substitute Samuel Saiz and Ronaldo Vieira gave the scoreline a flattering look.

Christiansen said: "I'm very satisfied with the result. We changed the result from 0-1 to 5-1 and I'm pleased about that. We've reached our goal of going through to the next round."

The Dane would relish the challenge of welcoming a Premier League side to a packed Elland Road in round three.

Christiansen said: "It would be nice to play a big team at home in front of our fans. They deserve it."

Michael Flynn, whose Newport side have yet to play at home this season due to the resurfacing of their Rodney Parade pitch, felt it was a missed opportunity.

"We've seen the difference between a Championship team and a League Two team is in the penalty box," said the former Bradford City captain.

"Was it a 5-1 game? I don't think so. They took their chances and we didn't.

"But I'm really proud of the players. They put in a great shift and kept going. Even at 5-1 down we created a lot of good chances.

"On a different day we might have scored four or five. But fair play to Leeds, they took their chances."