NEWPORT County AFC are hopeful that the New Year’s Day home clash with promotion rivals Oxford United will go ahead as planned.

Chief executive Dave Boddy told the Argus that the Rodney Parade pitch is playable 24 hours before tomorrow’s 3pm kick-off time.

But with heavy rain forecast overnight and tomorrow morning the match is still in doubt despite the hard work of the ground staff.

“I’d like to praise the ground staff for a phenomenal amount of work to get the pitch playable as we speak,” said Boddy this afternoon.

“We’ve spiked the pitch with a vertidrain machine to help drain the surface water and we’re using water hog devices so we’re doing all we can.

“The outcome will still depend on the overnight weather but we’re optimistic.

“We are desperate to get the game on having lost the Wimbledon game," he added.

"Oxford are bringing around 700 fans, we have sold over 2,500 tickets in advance and would hope for a walk-up of around 2,000 to 3,000 fans."

If the game does go ahead it will see the debut of the club’s official Exiles Player service featuring live commentary of the game.

Fans who subscribe will be able to hear commentary from Tim Thraves of all first team fixtures for the remainder of the season and watch extended highlights afterwards.

The service will cost fans £17.99 for six months subscription or £4.49 per month.

Brief highlights will still be available via the club’s YouTube channel and you can follow every match live and free with the Argus by following @argusoncounty on Twitter.

Newport City Radio will no longer carry live commentary due to Football League rights issues.

Tomorrow’s match will also see the away capacity boosted at Rodney Parade.

County have now installed a further 222 seats in the away Sytner End. This increases the away segregated area capacity to 1,300.

Following the completion of the work on the Hazell Terrace, which included the installation of a new crush barrier running the full length of the touchline, Rodney Parade’s capacity has now been re-calculated.

The capacity of football matches will be 7,850 and slightly higher for rugby matches due to there being no segregation requirements for Newport RFC or Newport Gwent Dragons.

Meanwhile, the home clash with AFC Wimbledon has been rearranged for Tuesday, February 11, after it was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch on December 21.