by Jordan A Jones
NEWPORT County resume their League Two campaign following the international break as they welcome lowly Scunthorpe United to Rodney Parade.
The Exiles were one of only two teams in the division not to play last weekend, following a decision to postpone their fixture with Cheltenham due to international call-ups.
Scunthorpe, currently three points off the bottom, have won just once in five games, though they have remained unbeaten in their last three, taking five points from a possible nine. Last week’s 3-0 win over basement side Morecambe was their first league win in almost a month.
Mike Flynn’s Newport side however, have lost just once in five and will be hoping to move into the automatic promotion spots with a victory today. County are currently five-points off league leaders Crewe and have tasted just one league defeat in 12 games.
“I’ve watched Scunthorpe quite a few times this season and there won’t be any excuses – they’re a very good team,” said Flynn.
“They came down from League One last season, I know a few of their players because I played with a few of them – Andy Butler, Lee Novak – so they’ve got good experience.
“They’ve got players who have played in the Championship, got an experienced manager there now in Paul Hurst so they’re going to be tough to beat. We’ll have our work cut out.”
Full-back Dan Leadbitter will be absent but County could be buoyed by the returns of Joss Labadie, Mickey Demetriou and Ryan Inniss.
James Perch and ex-Cardiff City forward Jamie Ward could return whilst Kevin van Veen looks set to be fit after overcoming a slight ankle injury. Iron’s goalkeeper Rory Watson faces a late concussion test after sustaining a knock in his last outing whilst defender Jordan Clarke is out following an appendix operation. Jordan Hallam and John McAtee are also out.
Assistant-manager Chris Doig is hoping last week’s win over Northampton will ‘give the players confidence’ to defeat a ‘physical’ Newport.
“Hopefully this result (the win over Northampton) will give them more confidence for what will be a very difficult test at Newport against a direct, physical team. Again, we’ll have to stand up to that.”
Newport hold 11 wins to Scunthorpe’s eight with nine draws in the 28 meetings. The most recent match was a 2-2 draw four years ago at Rodney Parade.
Featured image Rodney Parade: © Copyright Steve Daniels and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
