Exiles boost as skipper insists he wants to stay

NEWPORT County captain Mickey Demetriou insists he’d love to extend his seven-year stay at Rodney Parade – but he’s determined to secure the Exiles’ League Two status before discussing a new contract.

County are 10 points clear of the bottom two ahead of tonight’s home clash with AFC Wimbledon.

And Demetriou, who saw his cross inadvertently headed in by Bradford City defender Liam Ridehalgh to earn a 1-1 draw with the Bantams on Saturday, is fully focused on beating the drop before discussing his own future.

“Nothing has been said and we have a job to do first, the gaffer has said that previously,” said the centreback, who turned 33 on Sunday.

“There are a lot of players out of contract, but we need to make sure the club is safe first and then start talking.”

Demetriou arrived in Newport in January 2017 and helped the club stay up in dramatic circumstances under previous manager Michael Flynn.

He was also instrumental in money-spinning cup runs and suffered two play-off final defeats at Wembley under Flynn.

“I love it here, my family is here and we don’t see that changing at the moment,” he added.

“We will see what happens, there is a long way to go. We will speak when the time is right, which will hopefully be soon.”

Demetriou scored the opening goal from the penalty spot on the final day of the season in 2017 before Mark O’Brien’s last-gasp winner against Notts County secured safety with almost the final kick of the campaign.

“It’s never finished until the last game of the season – we know that from six years ago,” said Demetriou, who could bring up 300 appearances for the club on the final day of this season.

“There are points to play for and we are going to try to finish as high as we can.

“We’ve got 11 games left and need to pick as many points as we can up as quickly as we can, then build for next season.”