PREVIEW: Newport County v Crawley Town

by Richard Early

Venue: Rodney Parade

Date: Friday January 19, 2018

Time: 19:45

TENTH-PLACE Newport County host fourteenth-place Crawley Town in Sky Bet League Two, as eight points separate the sides and the game nears a sell-out.

 

Ticket Office staff are flying this morning and their are minimal queues at the windows.  Phone lines are open but still very busy.  If you can come to Rodney Parade in person, we recommend supporters do this. #OneClubOneCounty https://t.co/Lo38nbKLv2

— Newport County AFC (@NewportCounty) January 19, 2018

Victory for Newport would see them rise to fifth place and a playoff spot in the league standings, before the other fixtures are played tomorrow.

County’s run of three successive home games begins tonight and it is an opportunity to make themselves real play-off contenders.

The home side should be confident going into the fixture, after winning two league games on the bounce, with that famous Emirates FA Cup victory over Leeds United coming in-between. They also defeated Crawley 2-1 in West Sussex back in September.

Manager, Mike Flynn, praised the contribution of County supporters to team success.  Speaking at his weekly press conference he said:

“Everybody can see the buzz around the club.  It [the buzz] definitely hasn’t been here for a while. I’m a Newport fan as-well and I’m not going to dress it up, there has been no buzz since Justin [Edinburgh] left.

“But you see the crowd on a Friday night against Crawley and I think it will be close to 6,000. It’s going to be an unbelievable atmosphere again and I think it’s rejuvenated the club if I’m honest.

“It’s given everybody in the city belief, and the players the belief that they are good players, and we are a good team.

“It always did [inspire me] when I was a player, the bigger the crowd and the bigger the atmosphere, I loved it.

“I always wanted to play on the big stage, big stadiums but whether there was 10 people there or 10,000 people there, I know the players have given me their all this season and I don’t expect anything else Friday.”

The away side have also been in solid form of late, and would make it four successive league wins with a victory at Rodney Parade.

Manager, Harry Kewell, has selected the same starting side for the past two matches and it is likely that he will do the same tonight, considering he has made no new signings in the past week.