After their great escape from relegation on the final day of the 2016/17 season, Newport County have gone from strength to strength under Mike Flynn. Their manager, who was born in the city, guided them to an 11th-place finish last season following their lowly positioning the season before and has them doing even better in the current campaign, sitting in sixth. Therefore, they will provide a stern test for the visit of league leaders MK Dons.
Newport County Will Provide a Stern Test For MK Dons
Recent losses to the likes of Carlise, Cheltenham and Swindon have slightly derailed the almost perfect start made by Newport. They previously occupied third-place in the table, behind Lincoln and this weekend’s visitors, and looked to be the team that were going to surprise everybody this season.
Despite this, the job that Mike Flynn has done with this team is nothing short of miraculous and there is a real danger that the Dons could face their third away loss of the season when they visit Rodney Parade on Saturday.
The Dons have only lost twice all season but both have come on the road – against Lincoln and Stevenage. If they make the same mistakes that they made in these games (not concentrating in the latter stages of the game, for example) then the threat of another loss and Lincoln re-gaining top spot is very real.
Key Men
Newport County
Both Jamille Matt and Padraig Amond stand out as the key threats for the hosts. The strike pair have 11 goals each so far in all competition, with Amond also providing five assists. Matt Leads the way with eight league goals, while Amond sits on seven.
There’s little to separate one of the deadliest strike forces in the league but they will be coming up against the tightest defence League Two has to offer this season. The bonus? It could be another makeshift defence for the Dons, with Jordan Moore-Taylor possibly still sidelined with injury. Jordan Houghton proved to be a stellar back-up against Carlisle but the league’s meanest front pair will be a different test altogether.
MK Dons
With Chuks Aneke possibly still out too, it could provide another opportunity for Lawson D’ath. The winger made his first start last Saturday against Carlisle and put in by far his best performance of the season, which saw him make the four-man shortlist for the fans’ Man of the Match after the game.
If he is selected to start, he will likely begin on the right, with Rhys Healey on the left and Kieran Agard down the middle, but as proven last time out, this trio can be extremely fluid and he is likely to pop up in all three positions numerous times throughout the game.
Another positive performance for the former Luton man here could see him begin to nail down a starting place in the team.
Prediction
Both teams are excelling this season and this could be an extremely difficult tie for the visitors. Even just a point here would likely be looked back on as a good point by the end of the season.
Newport would surely take a draw against a team that Mike Flynn admitted were the “best in the league” and that looks to be the likely outcome.
Prediction: Newport County 2-2 MK Dons
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