NEWPORT County defender Ryan Jackson has tipped his teammates to roar back to life tonight against League One high-flyers Peterborough United.

Jackson was part of an Exiles side that were stunned on Saturday as non-league Kidderminster Harriers dumped them out of the FA Cup, at the same time as Posh were smashing Tranmere Rovers 5-0.

County will be massive underdogs in tonight’s clash, but know victory will leave them just 180 minutes away from a third final at Wembley Stadium in as many seasons.

And Jackson believes that under the lights at Rodney Parade, the Exiles will have nothing to fear.

“We’ve been so solid at the back but Saturday was one of those games, everything went wrong for us.

“We are itching to bounce back against Peterborough and put it right in front of our own fans,” he told the Argus.

“We are only three games from Wembley, that’s a huge carrot for us and if we can maintain our home form it’ll be great.

“We will be the underdogs tonight against Peterborough but Kidderminster were underdogs on Saturday and you saw what can happen when a team is clinical.”

Jackson admitted the team were left shellshocked by Saturday’s reverse.

“I think we didn’t take our chances and let in some sloppy goals, we didn’t defend well as we can, we were sloppy,” he said.

“We were the architects of our own downfall because if we’d have taken our chances earlier in the game we’d have been ahead and it would’ve been tough for them.

“If it got a bit tighter I’d have fancied us but they took their chances and suddenly we found ourselves 4-0 down which is a bit embarrassing and doesn’t reflect the talent we have in the team.

“We’ve been in good form, but at least we dug deep and got a couple of late goals, our heads haven’t dropped.

“The gaffer told us not to roll over and to keep grinding, but the timing of when we scored, it meant we’d left it too late.”

Jackson admits Newport’s away form on the whole is a cause for concern.

“We aren’t happy with our away results on the whole, our pace works for us at home but we haven’t yet translated it into our away form,” he said.

“We need to start better away, because we tend to finish stronger than a lot of teams we play.

“Once that away win comes I think it’ll open the floodgates, but we need that first one and hopefully it’ll come on Saturday against Portsmouth.”