MANAGER Justin Edinburgh says Newport County AFC are right in the heart of the most open promotion battle for years in League Two.

County go into tonight’s home clash with in-form Hartlepool United knowing that a win or a draw would lift them into the play-off places before their rivals play tomorrow.

But a win for the visitors would put them in the top seven and could see the Exiles, currently tenth, drop as low as 16th in the table by Saturday night.

Edinburgh is convinced that his side has what it takes to sustain a promotion push this season but he knows that they will have to battle all the way in an extremely competitive division.

“It is very open,” said the Exiles boss. “If you look at everyone’s form and it carries on to the end of the season there are going to be a lot of unhappy teams that miss out on the play-offs by a few points.

“Consistency is key from now on. We’ve got ourselves in a really good position and I think we’ll get stronger.

“I said we’d be judged after 15 games and I think we’re in with a chance of taking one of those top seven places.

“It was 68 points that got you in the play-offs last year and I think you’re going to need a few more than that this year.”

County have won six out of eight home games so far this season and Edinburgh is confident of keeping that impressive run going.

But he knows that Hartlepool, who have won seven of their last nine games, will also be on a high.

“If we got the right result it would put us in a good position but I think we just look at it as another home game and we’ve enjoyed great success at home this season,” he said.

“We’ll be looking to continue the performance we had against Portsmouth on Tuesday and get back to winning ways in the league.

“If we can mirror the performance from the second half against Braintree and the 90 minutes against Portsmouth then we’ll certainly be looking at getting a positive result against Hartlepool.

“But they’ve had a great recovery after a very slow start to the season,” he added.

“They’ve shown good progression and real consistency of late. They were very unlucky to lose on Tuesday night against Rotherham so it will be tough.

“It will be two sides who look to play the right way and we’ve got to try and make that home advantage count.

“Since we’ve made the move to Rodney Parade we’ve made it a fortress. The fans have made it hostile but in a good way.

“It’s very enjoyable playing at home and the fans are a big part of that. They make it very easy to play at home and they really do act as that 12th man.”