Newport County players have been warned ‘Forget all about playing against Leicester City in the FA Cup’.
That will be a massive tie for County against the former Premier League champions, but the Exiles have five League Two fixtures between now and the cup clash on January 6.
The first of those is against leaders MK Dons at Rodney Parade this Saturday, followed by Lincoln City (away), Forest Green (home), Crawley (home) and Stevenage (away).
Those matches will help shape how serious sixth-placed Newport can make their challenge for promotion.
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“We are completely focused on MK Dons at the weekend and the Christmas period ahead of us,” said leading goalscorer Padraig Amond.
“It’s a busy period for us and exciting times, but we’ll look forward to the Leicester game after our New Year’s Day fixture. Until then it’s right at the back of our minds.”
The home tie against Leicester could be worth more than £200,000 to Newport including live television coverage fees and Mike Flynn, Newport’s manager, says it’s ‘huge’ for the club.
“Another day to look forward to but I told the boys in the dressing room it’s in January. Something to look forward to then, but we’re playing the best team in League Two on Saturday in MK Dons.
“That’s my full focus. We have to focus on recovery and MK Dons.”
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Second half efforts from Amond, Jamille Matt, Mark Carrington’s own goal and Dan Butler earned Newport victory against Wrexham and Flynn said: “I can’t praise the players enough. They’ve made the club a lot more money which is huge.
“It was a highly professional job and I’m proud of them. They deserve the credit.”
There were no new injuries for Newport. Mickey Demetriou and Scott Bennett taken off, but Flynn said: “Mickey is fine, we just didn’t want to take any chances.
“I was thinking of taking one of the full-backs off because they were on yellow cards. Believe me, we think of everything on the side-lines. When Mickey got the knock, there was no point risking him.
“No fresh injuries. Benno was a bit leggy, so we took him off. That’s understandable because he played more than he should have on Saturday.
“Fair play to him for that, it shows how hard he worked in his rehabilitation.”
Newport County fixtures before their FA Cup home tie against Leicester City on Sunday, January 6.
December
Saturday 15 v MK Dons (home)
Saturday 22 v Lincoln City (away)
Wednesday 26 v Forest Green (home)
Saturday 29 v Crawley (home)
January
New Year’s Day v Stevenage (away)
League Two top eight
| P | W | D | L | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | MK Dons | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | +19 | 43 |
| 2 | Lincoln | 20 | 12 | 5 | 3 | +18 | 41 |
| 3 | Colchester | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | +15 | 38 |
| 4 | Bury | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | +19 | 36 |
| 5 | Mansfield | 20 | 8 | 11 | 1 | +15 | 35 |
| 6 | Newport | 21 | 10 | 5 | 6 | -2 | 35 |
| 7 | Tranmere | 21 | 9 | 7 | 5 | +6 | 34 |
| 8 | Forest G | 21 | 8 | 9 | 4 | +9 | 33 |
