Porter admits: I’ll play right back but I hate it! (From South Wales Argus)

Porter admits: I’ll play right back but I hate it!

10:00am Friday 26th October 2012 in Sport By Michael Pearlman

COUNTY v WOKING (Tomorrow, KO 3pm)

NEWPORT County midfielder Max Porter is again ready to fill in at right back for the good of his team… but don’t expect him to be happy about it.

The former Rushden midfielder has deputised for injury victim David Pipe and will now need to cover his skipper’s suspension by again filling the void against Woking tomorrow.

Neither Porter nor emergency centre back Lee Minshull have had a particularly great time of it, County conceding six this week to lowly Yate Town, a full 88 places below them in the pyramid, as the Exiles were dumped out of the FA Cup.

But County are still top of the league and Porter is confident his side will set down another marker of their credentials tomorrow.

“We are still gutted about the cup exit, we’ve controlled both games enough to win them both, but full credit to Yate, they probably deserve it for scoring six against us,” he said.

“On any given day these things can happen but we should have beaten them and we know it.

“The gaffer has been harsh about the defeat but we’ve come a long way, people have seen the standard we’ve set and we deserved the criticism. We have to respond and we will do.”

Porter was unhappy with his own performance, admitting it’s a chore for him to be playing in defence.

“Not liking the position isn’t an excuse, I’ve played there in League Two and played well, but I’ll be honest, I don’t enjoy playing there, I’ll do it for the team but it’s not my ideal,” he said. “I will always do my best for the team.”

The Exiles have several concerns in addition to Pipe’s ban following his red card in Tuesday’s replay defeat to Yate.

A sickness bug has swept Rodney Parade and Mike Flynn was among those unable to train yesterday.

Andrew Hughes is fit to return and play in defence, but question marks remain over Ismail Yakubu (calf) who will have a fitness test today.