County on the Road to York
It’s all to play for at Bootham Crescent on Saturday (26th April, 3:00pm Kick Off) as Newport County AFC travel to Play-Off hopefuls York City in what is The Exiles’ final away fixture of an eventful season back in the Football League.
Newport County AFC will be wearing their All Black strip for the trip North and will be hoping to repeat the form showed in their previous meeting with the Minstermen back in October when a comfortable 3-0 victory lifted the County into 10th place in the table whilst the visitors were languishing in 18th position.
County travel with 18 players to York with Ismail Yakubu, Byron Anthony, Jamie Stephens and Danny Crow out for the season due to injuries. Justin Edinburgh has a choice to make with 2 keepers available whilst Kevin Feely and Darcy Blake look set to continue at the heart of the defence.
With League 2 football assured for next season, Edinburgh has laid down the law to his players that there is to be no drop in performances for the rest of the season.
‘The players are paid professional employees at the Newport County AFC and they have a duty to the club, to the fans and most importantly themselves, to continue in a similar vein as recent matches and I have no doubt we will be looking to win the game.
The squad were disappointed after the Burton game as the performance merited a win but training has been of a high intensity this week and we are hoping to build on some consistent performances of late.’
Former Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington realises how close York City are to ensuring the season doesn’t end in a week’s time and has issued a rallying cry to his squad via the club’s website:
‘Mentally and physically we'll be right and try to get over the line on Saturday.’
York City also have long term injuries to several key players and Will Fletcher, Josh Carson and Caerphilly born captain Danny Parslow are unavailable for the rest of the season. Nick Pope is expected to continue in goal at the expense of Mike Ingham with Calvin Andrew and Michael Coulson likely to continue up front.
York City had over 5,000 in attendance for their last home game, a 1-0 victory over Bury, and another large crowd is expected Saturday. County fans can pay on the day with the open terrace behind the goal £17 (concessions available) or £18 (concessions) for the seats in the corner of stand.