Michael Flynn has warned his Newport County AFC players that they can take nothing for granted tomorrow afternoon when they host Scunthorpe United at Rodney Parade.
Paul Hurst’s Iron side currently sit in 22nd position having accrued 10 points from the opening 13 matches although they have undergone a resurgence recently as five of those points have been picked up in the last three games.
The Exiles have become accustomed to facing the in-form sides within the division this season and Flynn says County will have to be at their best to beat a Scunthorpe team who currently occupy a false position in the table.
Flynn affirmed: “I’ve watched Scunthorpe quite a few times this season and there won’t be any excuses – they’re a very good team.
“They came down from League One last season, I know a few of their players because I played with a few of them – Andy Butler, Lee Novak – so they’ve got good experience.
“They’ve got players who have played in the Championship, got an experienced manager there now in Paul Hurst so they’re going to be tough to beat. We’ll have our work cut out.
“They had a good result last week against a strong Northampton Town team.
“It’s going to be a tough game, they’ll come here full of confidence after last week and we’ll have to be at our best.”
The Exiles come into the contest at Rodney Parade on the back of a rare weekend off after the Cheltenham Town away fixture was postponed due to international call-ups.
County didn’t lose too much ground in the League Two table last Saturday as they slipped to fifth but are now only three points off the summit with the game in hand.
Flynn added: “It was done for the right reasons [the Cheltenham postponement] and it’s refreshed the boys.
“They’ve trained superbly this week; really high intensity and I was really pleased. They’ve been outstanding all week. We’re in a really good position, started well. We’ve had a good start, but we’ve just got to keep it going.
“There’s probably been about 27% of the season gone, if we’re still in the same position when there’s 75% of the season gone then I’ll be happy. I’ll be even happier if it’s 100% gone.”