Flynn wants County to lay their Morecambe bogey to rest tonight

NEWPORT County welcome “bogey side” Morecambe to Rodney Parade this evening as they look to continue their good form with Tottenham Hotspur their next visitors on Saturday.

The Exiles have won their last four games, all with a 2-1 scoreline, but have lost six of their last nine clashes with the Shrimps, with Morecambe sealing a 2-1 win in the latest encounter at the Globe Arena in September.

Mike Flynn was highly critical of his side’s performance that day, describing it as “gutless” and “spineless”.

And the manager (pictured) is targeting a much-improved display this time around.

“They are down the bottom but they always end up going on runs,” he said.

“They are a bit of a bogey team for us, I’ve got a lot of time for Jim Bentley and I’ll never take them lightly.

“I thought we were poor up there and we didn’t deserve to win and now we’ve got a chance to put it right. We’re on a good run of form.”

Key midfield duo Joss Labadie and Matty Dolan missed Friday’s victory over Crawley Town and remain doubts for tonight’s clash, however, Cambridge United loanee Emmanuel Osadebe could make his debut.

Frank Nouble is only one booking away from a two-game suspension, which would see him miss the FA Cup clash with Spurs if he saw yellow, but Flynn insisted the striker would feature if fit.

“That’s part and parcel of football,” said Flynn.

“You see what Roy Keane did for his team when they played Juventus in the Champions League.

“They went on to win it and he didn’t play in the final.

“It’s a team sport, let’s hope he doesn’t get booked.”

Almost 6,000 packed the stands at Rodney Parade to witness County’s win over Crawley and around 10,000 are expected on Saturday. Flynn hopes that’s a sign of things to come.

“We want to keep the crowds going up and getting the average attendance up,” he said.

“Credit to them, I know the reason why a lot of them were here but fair play to them, they turned up and want to be part of a big occasion.

“Hopefully it won’t be the only one this season.”