NEWPORT County AFC manager Justin Edinburgh has declared himself happy with the club’s pre-season progress and he says his squad is ready for Saturday’s big kick-off.

County start their second League Two campaign at home to Wycombe Wanderers and Edinburgh is sure that his players are ready to hit the ground running.

The Exiles boss saw a handful of first team squad members complete their preparations in west Wales on Tuesday night when a County development side were beaten by Port Talbot Town.

Goals from Martin Rose and Keyon Refell gave the Welsh Premier League side a 2-0 victory over a County side that was a mixture of youth and experience.

Canadian goalkeeper Simon Thomas, who is likely to sign a short-term contract this week, started the match and he’s likely to be on the bench against Wycombe.

Right-back Ryan Jackson, who is suspended for Saturday’s match, also started alongside fellow first team squad members Byron Anthony, Kyle Patten, Joe Parker and Shaun Jeffers.

They were joined by Academy boys Reagan Poole, Kieran Parselle, Spencer Wood, Tom Owen-Evans and Alex Zanotti.

“I think we’re as ready as can be now,” said Edinburgh. “The acid test comes on Saturday when the season starts but in terms of how I would have liked pre-season to go I’m delighted.

“We only picked up one or two injuries and the preparations have been good.”

Midfielder Max Porter was injured in the opening friendly at Evesham United and he’ll miss the start of the season along with striker Danny Crow, who is struggling with a back injury according to Edinburgh.

But he’s pleased with the progress of defender Anthony as he continues his recovery from an operation at the tail-end of last season.

“Byron played last night and he’s making good progress from his operation,” he said. “We’ll just look at his fitness week to week, really.

“He’s training all the time and he’s starting to look like he’s getting back to where he should be and we’ll have further discussions soon (on a new contract).

“Max is obviously out for a little while and Danny Crow is a little bit behind at the minute but we’ll get them up to speed soon and hopefully we’ll have a full squad to select from before long.

“That’s a much healthier position than we were in this time last year.”