Newport County are feeling right at home as they target their own great escape.
The Exiles take on Blackpool on Saturday and Luton Town next Tuesday, both at Rodney Parade.
Successive away wins against Crewe and Morecambe have lifted County off the bottom and there is new belief among the players.
Mike Flynn, County’s Newport-born manager, is proud to be in charge of his home city team and says: “The club for me is everything, it is a lot more than just football.
“Every fan around the country who supports their team will understand what I mean.
“I want my kids to see me do well for Newport, I am a Newport boy and seeing this club be successful is everything I want.”
County are still seven points away from safety, but they have a game in hand and Flynn is convinced League Two survival is possible.
“It is not impossible, it is going to be hard, it is going to be tough, I am not going to dress it up as something it isn’t, but we will keep fighting,” he said.
“We will keep going until the end as that is what the fans of this club deserve. The players will be under no illusion about what this means to the fans, to the club and to their careers. Nothing is impossible.”
Saturday’s clash with Blackpool is County’s first home match since the 4-0 defeat against Leyton Orient. That was followed by the dismissal of manager Graham Westley and Flynn’s appointment.
Ryan Bird, who scored the winner at Morecambe, says: “We’re bang up for it.
“We’re playing well and we’re confident again.
“Everyone around the place is buzzing and if we play as well as we did on Tuesday we’ll win again.
“The Leyton Orient game is in the past now – we’ve moved on.
“We can get out of this. When I came here my goal was to help Newport stay in the League and we can do it.”
Visitors Blackpool have lost only one of their last nine games on the road and overall are unbeaten in seven fixtures.
They have earned wins at Plymouth Argyle and Carlisle United, while they drew against Wycombe and Exeter on the road.
“The players deserve an enormous amount of credit for how they’ve gone about it away from home,” says Blackpool manager Gary Bowyer.
“They’ve stood up to whatever has come their way. They have found solutions and found a way to grind out performances and results.
“We’re going to need that from now until the end of the season. That’s never going to change.”
Blackpool are eighth with nine League Two games remaining and are three points behind Exeter, who occupy the final play-off spot.
