NEWPORT County manager Justin Edinburgh will drill a simple message into his players ahead of tonight’s daunting trip, “you have absolutely nothing to lose”.

The Exiles horror run continued at home to Southport on Saturday when they were 3-0 down at half-time and few will fancy them for tonight’s trip (KO 7.45pm) just past Blackpool to face a Fleetwood side who are third in the Conference and were the pre-season favourite to win the title.

County are an 8-1 shot to get the three points tonight but boss Edinburgh is hoping to turn that into a positive.

"No one is expecting anything from us tonight, other than for us to roll over and get beaten again," he said.

"I expect more steel from my players and to be fair, we have absolutely nothing to lose. All the pressure and expectation is going to be on the home side and I want my players, I expect my players, to roll up their sleeves and battle hard."

Edinburgh believed the supporters who never turned on the side were the "only positive," from Saturday’s reverse against Southport and spent Sunday chewing the fat with a man in the know.

"I went to visit with Lee Harrison (assistant to previous manager Anthony Hudson) and we had a good chat about things, Lee was very, very helpful," the former Tottenham defender said.

"There was no bitterness on his part, you could tell he wants the club to improve and it’s my job to ensure that happens.

"We have to improve quickly and the players need to show me they deserve to be here. Or they won’t be."

Edinburgh has a few injury worries to concern himself with.

"Ryan Gilligan got a knock in training, we’ll have to wait and see on that one," he said. "David Pipe (ankle and rib) and Danny Potter (thigh) should both be available for Saturday but the trip to Fleetwood comes probably 24 or 48 hours too soon for them.

"And the other one is Lee Baker. He needs an operation on his shoulder and will be out for 12 weeks. He must be married to a witch or something because he’s been cursed with injuries. It’s a shame, he’s struggled for confidence but as a left back myself I was looking forward to working with him."