Black & Ambers bid to bounce back

NEWPORT host Merthyr at Rodney Parade tonight (7.30pm) hoping to put their nightmare home defeat to RGC behind them.

The Black & Ambers sit nine points clear of second place Cardiff but go into the Merthyr game having lost their first game of the campaign last weekend. And Newport head coach Ty Morris insists this is a game they cannot afford to lose

“Obviously it was disappointing to lose against RGC, it was not the result we were looking for,” said Morris.

“RGC were a physically challenging side, and all credit goes to them, they showed massive improvements as a side and so we have to give credit to them for the way they played.

“But now our focus is on Merthyr, there is no bigger challenge then to play Merthyr, they are a strong team, and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing them and we are going to have to put in a big performance against them.”

Merthyr sit in seventh spot in the table but with only two points separating them from third, they will be fighting to cause an upset at Rodney Parade.

Morris is hopeful that his players will be able to rise to the occasion and get their campaign back on track with winning the Indigo Premiership firmly in their sites.

“The ball is in our court now, we still have lots of momentum from our eight wins in the campaign,” said Ty Morris.

“We are still top of the table, and we are top for a reason, we have conceded the lowest number of points and we are confident in our own game so it is up to us just to go out there and play how we know we can.

With just one game left of the campaign following tonight’s clash, the message in the Newport camp is not to get too carried away.

“We can’t start thinking about winning anything, we just have to take it one game at a time,” said Morris.

“There’s some additional pressure after last weekend but we still have a lot of confidence in our ability as a side. After this game the focus is on the cup final, and we know we just have to take it one step at a time.”