Michael Flynn has vowed his Newport County team will ‘fight and scrap’ for their Football League lives.
Caretaker manager Flynn takes his County team to Lancashire for their League Two clash with Morecambe at Globe Arena on Tuesday (7.45pm).
They earned a hard-fought victory in Flynn’s first match since taking over from Graham Westley, beating Crewe Alexandra 2-1.
That was Newport’s first win since January, but they are still nine points from safety at the bottom of League Two.
“We want to fight, we want to put the pressure on other teams and drag them in,” said Flynn. “We’re not going down without a fight, not on my watch. It’s not happening.
“The fans know what it means to me and I know what it means to the fans and now the players are seeing exactly what it means.
“I want to keep the club up and I want to give the fans’ belief.
“We’ve got to keep fighting and scrapping, keep getting wins, picking up points and catching the teams above us.
“Then it gets interesting. It drags other teams in and puts pressure on them.”
Joss Labadie, who scored the winner at Crewe, is Newport’s new captain, having taken over the armband from Scott Bennett.
“Everyone in the dressing room believes that we can get out of this situation that we’re in and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” said Labadie.
“It’s vital that we do get back-to-back wins and it’s something that we’re more than capable of and we believe we can do.”
Flynn is ready to recall midfield players Ben Tozer and Mark Randall to his squad, although neither are match fit because they now been playing or training with the first team.
County are without Mitch Rose, who has a five-match suspension after a charge of misconduct was upheld by the Football Association. He knocked a red card out of referee Trevor Kettle’s hand at Cambridge United last month.
Rose won an appeal over his dismissal, but was charged by the FA over his confrontation with the match official.
County received a £2,500 fine after admitting a charge of failing to control their players.
Newport County, possible team v Morecambe on Tuesday: Day, Pipe, Nelson, O’Brien, Butler, Samuel, Bennett, Labadie, Owen-Evans, Rigg, Bird.
Subs, from: Barnum-Bobb, Demetriou, Reid, Jackson, Bittner, Gordon, Williams, Randall, Tozer.