We preview Saturday's home game against the Exiles...
Newport County
Sky Bet League 2
Saturday 7th January 2017
The Lamex Stadium, Stevenage
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Rob Lewis
Ticket News
Saturday is a Category B game so in-advance prices range from £3 to £20. Tickets are available for all areas of the ground at in-advance prices until 5pm on Friday in the club shop or online at www.borotickets.co.uk until 11.59pm on Friday.
Tickets will also be available on all cash turnstiles on Saturday at the following match day prices:
Main Stand (home fans)
Adult - £22
Concession - £19
U22 - £14
U16 - £10
U12 - £8
East Terrace and North Terrace (home fans)
Adult - £18
Concession - £16
U22 - £11
U16 - £8
U12 - £5
Match Pack
Read more info and FAQS about Saturday's game in our Match Pack here.
Team news:
Stevenage could welcome Steve Schumacher back into the starting XI after he was an unused sub against Doncaster. Luke Wilkinson and Harry McKirdy could also return from knocks but Dean Wells (groin), Andrew Fox (knee) and Jake Hyde are likely to miss out. Tom Conlon (ACL) is also out for the foreseeable future.
Newport County could potentially have six debutants featuring in this game. Defenders Sid Nelson (Millwall) and David Pipe (Eastleigh) have joined striker Jaanai Gordon (West Ham) in arriving at Rodney Parade on loan, with boss Graham Westley expecting further new signings between now and tomorrow's game.
View from the dressing room:
Stevenage manager Darren Sarll: “We know we have got more to do than ever but putting the increasing pressure and demand aside, we have got to do our job. We have got to do it very well and do it against a side that are going to be ready for a bit of a battle-up
“Graham Westley and Dino Maamria should always be welcomed back and welcomed back in a loud and appreciative fashion for what they have done for the football club.
“Then we have got to go and win a game of football. It doesn’t matter if it is Graham Westley, Terry Venables or Chris Wilder. We have got to make sure our focus is on winning that football match and not the hoorah around a returning manager etc etc.
Newport manager Graham Westley: "We’ve been busy in the market this week and we’ll be busy again before the weekend, making sure that we give ourselves a different set of ingredients to start working with at the start of the second half of the season."
"I’ve been back to Stevenage a couple of times now, having left there...on both occasions I’ve got a good rapport with the fans at Stevenage. They’re a terrific bunch, we’ve had great times together and I’m sure there’s a healthy respect between they and I. You can’t enjoy all those good times together and not have that respect."
Boro PlayerHD subscribers can click on the above image to sign in and listen to Graham's full pre-match interview on Exiles Player.
Newport's season so far...
Newport come into this game bottom of Sky Bet League 2 with 17 points from 23 games so far.
A poor start to the campaign saw one win in the opening nine games which cost former boss Warren Feeney his job. In came Graham Westley and despite some early defeats, the Exiles soon went on a seven game unbeaten run in all competitions, which included five wins. However since the end of November they have failed to pick up any league points, losing seven straight games and also suffering FA Cup second round replay defeat to Plymouth, despite an encouraging goalless draw at Home Park
It's worth noting, however, that three of Newport's four league wins this season have come away from home at Leyton Orient (1-0), Accrington Stanley (1-0) and Notts County (3-0). They've also collected draws at Colchester (0-0) and Hartlepool (2-2).
Newport's recent results
Wycombe 2-1 Newport
Newport 1-4 Exeter City
Newport 2-3 Portsmouth
Newport 0-1 Plymouth (FA Cup R2 replay)
Crawley 3-1 Newport
Newport 0-2 Stevenage
Plymouth 0-0 Stevenage (FA Cup R2)
Betting with Sky Bet:
Ben Kennedy has been in fine form recently and he is 5/1 to be the first goalscorer, whilst the returning Tyler Walker is 9/1 to score a brace.
Stevenage won 2-0 at Newport last month and a repeat of that scoreline is 10/1.
Sign up to SkyBet through any of the attached links and the club will benefit from your bets!
Live commentary, social media & online coverage:
Can’t make it? Listen to the game live on the Boro Player HD service from tomorrow where Steve Watkins will be leading the commentary as usual.
Our Twitter page is the place to be locked in on a matchday as we provide live minute-by-minute updates during the game as well as all of the up-to-date info and plenty of fun too. All of our key content is linked from our Twitter account so if you are following us, you won’t miss a thing.
If you aren’t following us on Instagram yet then you should be – all the best photos from before, during and after the game will be uploaded here across the weekend.