Newport County’s Nick Townsend looks ahead to a busy few weeks for the Exiles, both in the League and Cup.
Newport will look to climb the league table tomorrow, as a determined looking Doncaster Rovers look to stop them. It’s the Exiles who carry a positive run of form as they head into tomorrow’s clash at the Eco-Power Stadium.
Goalkeeper Nick Townsend confirms there is a ‘buzz’ around the group at present as they look for another three points on the road tomorrow afternoon: “There’s a buzz around the place right now,” began Newport’s number one.
“We’ve been doing well in the league, admittedly not as well as we would’ve liked, but the form we are in currently is positive, as we continue to pick up points.
“We are building a team up, with the lads that are coming back from injury, getting minutes under their belt etc, it’s a positive place to be right now,” he confirmed.
The run of form that the Exiles find themselves on is something that they will be looking to ‘build-on’ as Townsend confirmed in his pre-match press conference: “It’s something to build on for sure, we are four games unbeaten and as the Gaffer keeps saying in our meetings, let’s build on it,” shared the goalkeeper.
“If we can pick up a result against Doncaster, we can take that into Eastleigh and then hopefully into whatever else lies ahead.”
Townsend was also sure to highlight the importance the Amber Army plays during matches, which he states has ‘improved’ since coming through the door almost seven years ago: “I think the Buzz I mentioned earlier radiates into the community too, when I first came to Newport we we’re probably having 1,500-2000 sized attendances per game, whereas now we’re seeing crowds like 4,000-5,000 which is a credit to both the football club and of course the fans as well.
“Even Eastleigh on Tuesday night, we’ve sold out our allocation which is just fantastic and we have to thank them once again for their continued unwavering support,” he added.
“The support is what we need, it picks us up when we’re under pressure or during negative spells in games and you can see from the fans how passionate they are, so we want to make sure we are turning up and giving our all, every game we play.”
Despite all the noise in the media as a result of Newport or Eastleigh drawing Premier League giants Manchester United in the FA Cup Fourth Round, Townsend was certain that it’s only Doncaster in their sights at Newport: “We’re going into the Doncaster game as focussed as ever, that is our main objective up until Saturday evening, all the rest is outside noise to us at the moment, we’ve got a job to do."
Of course it’s hard for people not to think about what could await the Exiles in the FA Cup but Townsend is cautious not to look too far ahead: “It’s easy to get side-tracked and dragged into it all, it’s Man U [Manchester United] it’s a big club and so on, but it would be looking past ourselves talking about it, because we’re not there yet, we’ve still got a game to play and we’ve got to ensure we get the job done first."