Southend haven’t had much time to recover from a midweek outing, whereas Newport County saw their League 2 game called off so they’ll be fresher when the promotion rivals meet at Roots Hall tonight.
John White returning, or at least being fit for consideration, is a bonus and Phil Brown is likely to bring him back in as Luke Prosser has concussion and a fractured cheekbone so isn’t going to make it. Paul Smith can return to the bench but Luke O’Neill, when it was hoped he would be, isn’t ready to return. Cauley Woodrow would have been in the squad but Fulham recalled the striker on Wednesday, citing a lack of first team starts for this.
Newport brought in a new striker this week with Shaun Jeffers joining the club as part of a deal that took Conor Washington the other way to League 1 side Peterborough, and he looks like he’ll make an instant debut. Max Porter, what a great name, and Andrew Hughes proved their fitness at the weekend could start with the midweek postponement giving Byron Anthony more time to recover but the game should still come too soon for him.
It’s getting tight at the top of the League 2 table now, no one is running away with it but the top seven are opening a bit of a gap and even though Newport are only two places below us they’re eight points adrift, albeit with two games in hand.
Extending the unbeaten run will be the aim first and foremost, if nothing else avoiding defeat will keep a nice cushion for Southend but if we want to end up in the top three at the end of the season our chances increase with a win tonight and this isn’t something I’m betting against.
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