County’s hopes of going up face big test tonight
NEWPORT County will find out if they have got what it takes to stay in the title race in League Two when they travel to team of the moment Tranmere Rovers tonight.
While Michael Flynn’s men, who led the table until the turn of the year, are still in the promotion race in sixth place, the contrast in fortunes between the two clubs this year is stark.
While Tranmere have taken 23 points from a possible 30 in their 10 league outings in 2021, County have mustered a mere 10 Keith Hill’s side have become the form team in the league and have forced their way up to fourth, only four points behind league leaders Cambridge United with two games in hand.
It will be the start of a difficult few weeks for County with four of their next five games being played away from home. These days that is a bit of a double edged sword for Flynn’s players, given they will get to play on some proper surfaces away from Rodney Parade.
“Tranmere are flying, but we want to go there and get a positive result. It will be difficult, but we will give it our best shot,” said Flynn.
“Then we have to go to Colchester, which is another tough trip, so it is going to be a long week. It is so tight in this league and I know the players are giving me their all and I can’t ask for much more than that.
“We need to get some work into them on the training ground, especially before home matches where it is hard to get any quality. The good thing is that after this period there will only be four games left away from home.”
The two long treks will mean travelling around 850 miles in five days and being on a coach for about 14 hours. That will be physically and mentally demanding for a team that is trying to find a way to recover the form that took it to the top and stayed there for so long in the first half of the season.
“There are going to be weeks when we win and the teams around us lose and vice versa. There are 10 weeks left to go in the season and there are going to be lots of twists and turns,” added Flynn.
“We’ve got 16 games to go and we’ve got to keep going to make sure we are still in with a shout on the last weekend of the season.”
Flynn is hoping his midfield maestro Joss Labadie will be fit to resume tonight after missing the goalless draw against Stevenage at the weekend with a knock to his knee. His strength and leadership were missing at Rodney Parade and his return to the starting line-up would be a huge boost.