Town have the chance to steal a march on their nearest rivals and extend their lead at the top of League Two as they welcome Newport County in a Friday night fixture ahead of all but one of the divisions fixtures the following day.
Our opponentsThe Exiles have taken seven points from their opening five fixtures to date, playing four of the games so far on the road, winning two and losing two in the process.
In amongst the pacesetters for most of the 2020/21 season County had to be content with a playoff berth and suffered heartbreak as they were defeated by a late penalty at Wembley that saw Morecambe earn promotion to League One.
Over the summer the club added the likes of Joe Day, Jermaine Hylton, Cameron Norman, Ed Upson and Alex Fisher, who netted on his debut at home to Leyton Orient a couple of weeks ago.
They also added to their ranks with loan signings Timmy Abraham from Fulham, Jake Cain from Liverpool, Finn Azaz from Aston Villa and Oli Cooper from Swansea City.
The club though did lose key midfielder Josh Sheehan to Bolton Wanderers as well as Josh Labadie, Liam Shephard, Tom King and Tristan Abrahams to other League Two rival clubs.
County will be hoping though to improve on the 9.8 shots per game total, currently the third lowest in the league and will need to be mindful of Town's league leading 14.8, including 6.2 on target - almost a goal per game more than any other side.
Last season
The spoils were shared last season with both sides coming out on top on home soil. At Rodney Parade, despite playing with ten-men for much of the game following Josh Falkingham's red card, Town looked to have earned a point thanks to Will Smith's equaliser until Brandon Cooper's late strike earned the Exiles all three points.
At The Envirovent Stadium in January goals from on-loan Josh March and Aaron Martin overturned an early Jake Scrimshaw goal to see Town replicate the 2-1 scoreline from earlier in the season.
Ones to watch
Defender Mickey Demetriou is again expected to be a key presence in the back line for the Exiles and often sets up in a back three with Scott Bennett and Matthew Dolan.
Upson will be an integral part of County's hope for success on Friday and Azaz has provided plenty of spark and creativity in the early stages of the season.
On-loan Abraham's pace will be something Town's back line need to be wary of and Robbie Willmott and Cooper have both started the season in good form in forward positions.
The man in charge
Michael Flynn is the man at the helm at Rodney Parade, having been in charge since 2017 following a spell as caretaker boss and has posted a 41% win percentage.
He had led the side to a playoff appearance in 2018 as well as high-profile FA Cup runs where they accounted for both Leeds and Leicester.
During his playing career he made over 400 appearances for a number of clubs, notably for County as well as Wigan, Gillingham, Blackpool, Huddersfield and Bradford.
History
Initially founded in 1912, County were re-formed in 1989 and worked their way back through the non-league set up to reach the Conference Premier for the 2010/11 season before a further promotion to League Two was earned following the 2012/13 season, where they have remained since.
One of their most famous seasons came back in 1980/81 when they reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup before being defeated by Carl Zeiss Jena 3-2 on aggregate.
County subsequently slipped down the divisions though and found themselves relegated from the Football League in 1987/88 and were declared bankrupt the following season.
Team news
Town head into the game with a clean bill of health and buoyed by the fact that manager Simon Weaver has been nominated for the League Two manager of the month award for August.
Tickets
Tickets are on sale at our advance reduced rate all week in our Commercial Street Store, and online up until kick-off via the below link.
BUY TICKETS
Tickets will also be on sale from the office window at The EnviroVent Stadium from 5pm on Friday 10th September.
Programme
Match programmes will be sold at our club shop on Commercial Street from 2pm the day before the fixture.
Please note numbers will be limited and programmes sold on a first come first served basis. Streaming
This fixture is not available to stream via our streaming service.