We believe... Rowberry sets sights on promotion
JAMES Rowberry insists his squad believe they can achieve promotion to League One over the next month.
Newport County currently occupy the final League 2 play-off place and are currently sixth points off automatic promotion. With a mere five games of regular league action to go this season, Newport manager Rowberry is confident his side will push on towards promotion.
“It’s going to be a very important five games to see off what I think has been a relatively successful season so far,” he said.
“Let’s hope we can get our performances right to get some positive results. I sense great belief in what we are trying to achieve.
“There’s always been a belief in this football club in what we are trying to achieve. You go back to the great escape; you go back to recent play-off times.
“We’ve experienced a lot of emotions as a football club, we’ve experienced heartache, and adulation.
“We’ve got experience, so we know what it’s like to be in these situations, and I’m conscious of that. I know what needs to be done, and there’s very much a belief in the team that we need to keep sticking to a gameby-game mentality, and that’s all we can do.”
Newport host Crawley Town at Rodney Parade today, with a win vital if they are to stay in touch with the top three. The Exiles play three games in seven days, and Rowberry insists they will have to dig deep to claim vital league points.
“We drew 1-1 with Crawley a few months ago, and we are expecting a tough game again,” said Rowberry.
“What we expect is a well-organised team who are well set-up, and structured. I think they are one of the best counter attacking teams in the division with the front three they’ve got.
“They’ve flick between systems quite often in games, but they are almost set on a 3-4-3. We will use our resources as well as we can.
“We’ve done that reasonably well throughout the season, and we’ve just got to keep doing it.
“The lads need to keep pushing each other, not just in trainings but on match days, to get the best out of each other because we are trying to produce the best performances we can.”
Meanwhile, there was bad news on the injury front with influential midfielder Robbie Willmott set to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.
“It’s an injury that he’s not done before,” said Rowberry. “It’s in his knee, and it’s an MCL (medial collateral ligament) grade two.
“But knowing Robbie, and the way that he is, I think he will be back quicker than that.”