Nelson Jardim | I’m really looking forward to the occasion

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Nelson Jardim says he is relishing the home atmosphere at Rodney Parade as he prepares for his first home game as new head coach. 

The Exiles host Doncaster Rovers in their second league outing of the new season following their narrow opening day defeat to Cheltenham Town last weekend. 

And the Exiles’ boss is looking forward to special occasion on tomorrow afternoon, and is targeting a home win for the Amber Army. 

“Tomorrow is a very big day and I’m really looking forward to the occasion”  began Jardim.

“I've heard great things about the support of the home fans and I’m excited to feel the atmosphere they create because it is such a big day for me.

“The fans have been suffering a lot unfortunately, because we haven’t given them the win they deserve yet. At some point I felt that we deserved the win against Cheltenham because the boys did well, but we were unlucky in the final minutes of the game. 

“However, tomorrow is our first home game here at Rodney Parade and I’m sure the fans will give us all their support because it’s a very important game to help us get the club back to winning ways.

“We know that Doncaster are a very good team and I think we’ve prepared the game quite well which is important because we have to take it one game at a time in such a long season. 

“Ultimately, Doncaster is a very tough team to beat which is a positive for us because if we come away with the win then the energy will be much better around the club. 

"I know the boys are determined to show the fans a good performance and they want to win it for them.”

He continued: “I’ve spoken many times about the new styles being implemented here and I feel like we’re still in that transitional period so we are relatively happy with the two games we’ve played. 

"Other than our defeat to Leyton Orient, the stats show that we had more control with the ball throughout the season so far.  

“We’ve been working hard to perfect the basics in the defensive side of our game because when you look at all the goals we’ve conceded so far, it is the basics we seem to fail on.

“We’ve had meetings where we discussed what the problems were so now the players and I understand what we’re doing wrong and we are now working on improving those errors.  

“I wanted to give a massive thank you to the fans that travelled to London on Tuesday because it was a long and late journey. 

“Honestly from my time here so far I have nothing hut the very best to say about our fans and it is unfortunate that we’ve not been able to give them their first win yet but fingers crossed it will happen tomorrow.”

Bryn Morris and Michael Spellman have missed County’s last two outings against Cheltenham Town and Leyton Orient in midweek. And the Exiles boss provided an update on his attacking due ahead of tomorrow’s clash. 

“Michael has had a muscle injury in the past few weeks and we think he will be out for maybe one or two more,” he added. 

“Bryn has a problem with tendentious and won’t be ready for tomorrows game, but I expect him to be integrated into the squad next week as he’s just started back training with a football.”