Newport County Captain Ryan Delaney shared his thought’s with the local media ahead of Newport’s clash with Wrexham at the Stōk Cae Ras this coming Saturday, December, 23 (3pm).
It’s fair to say that the ‘Welsh Derby’ as it’s been labelled, has created a considerable amount of noise amongst supporters as well as in the media in the build-up to Saturday’s game. The last league tie between the two sides coming in the play-off finals ten years ago, in 2013. It was an encounter that ensured the travelling Exiles were sent home from Wembley happy after Jolley and O’Connor confirmed promotion to the football league for Newport County a poigniant moment in the club's history.
Newport Captain Ryan Delaney is ‘excited’ for the tie, although is certain his side won’t get embroiled in the media hype: “It’s a big game, that’s for sure,” stated the Skipper.
“There’s a lot of hype around it as well, from the day that they [Wrexham] got promoted, but realistically, the excitement was building since the back-end of last season amongst supporters of both clubs who predicted their promotion.
“I know we have a massive away following, travelling to support us as well, which will undoubtedly be a huge benefit for us and bring the atmosphere which will no-doubt play a part with us on the pitch.”
With it being an all-Welsh affair accompanied by the media hype in the build-up, the defender believes there will be a ‘derby like feel’ to it in North Wales tomorrow: “I think It’ll have a derby like feel to it,” he started.
“I imagine it’ll be a fast tempo’d and aggressive game and we’ll be looking to put our stamp on it and hopefully come out on top.”
It’s no secret that Wrexham have a formidable front-line, compiled with players that have seasons upon seasons of EFL experience in Paul Mullin, Ollie Palmer and Sam Dalby and to echo that stat The Red Dragons have scored 44 goals in the league this season and Delaney will be keen to ensure that it stays at 44 come the end of the tie: “They’ve got a lot of fire power, we’d be wrong to say otherwise, I think.
“They’ve got strength in depth, they have a lot of quality players with different attributes so no doubt we'll have to be on it tomorrow from minute one. No lapses in concentration, no slips, we all have to pull together and be at it tomorrow in order to stop their attacking threat.
“On the flip side of that, when given our chance, we have to punish them at the other end.”
Although the odds are stacked against Newport County, the Exiles have often punished teams before when being labelled the ‘underdog’. Most recently beating League Two leaders Stockport County 2-1 at Rodney Parade putting an end to their 12-game winning run with a convincing performance. The Exiles will be looking to summon a similar performance this weekend: “On our day we’ll back ourselves against anyone,” said the Skipper.
“When you play against the top teams, players can’t be having off days, so we’ll be right at it tomorrow.
“The squad and staff will back ourselves going into tomorrow for sure and we know we have the quality on the pitch to back that up.
“We have a tight-knit and confident squad, who are realistically a bit disappointed with where we are in the table currently. We have had a rough spell but we’ve come through that and looking forward now, we’re wanting to kick-on and push ourselves further up the table.”
Tomorrow’s clash with Wrexham kicks-off a busy festive schedule for the Exiles. Newport host Troy Deeney’s Forest Green Rovers on Boxing Day followed by Lee Bell’s Crewe Alexandra on the 29th and finally face a trip to South London on New Years Day to play Sutton United. Although this is an extra busy period for the squad through the festive weeks, Delaney sees it as a perfect chance to climb league positions and make the most of the hectic schedule: “Like I said previously, we’re all a bit disappointed with where we are in the table, we’ve not been consistent enough on a regular basis which is something we have addressed.
“Going forward we want to be able to build a rhythm, build the momentum, win consecutive games and ultimately climb the table. If you win three games in a week it changes the picture pretty quickly,” confirmed Ryan.
“We need to find the consistency. We’ve shown in large spells and in games how good we are and can be, but we’ve let ourselves down at times, which we know.
“With the busy schedule we know we’re going to need everyone, everybody is going to be playing minutes and we are all looking forward to see what it holds.”