NEWPORT County AFC midfielder Lee Minshull hauled himself off the floor on Saturday as the Exiles won at Dagenham & Redbridge and he’s aiming to land a knockout blow on Southend United tonight.

Minshull was on the receiving end of the flailing arms of Daggers skipper Abu Ogogo, who was sent off before Chris Zebroski’s header sealed a second away of the season for County.

Now Justin Edinburgh’s men return to the home comforts of Rodney Parade where they have won three successive league games over the past five weeks.

They host the Shrimpers tonight and Accrington Stanley on Saturday looking to move into the play-off places in League Two.

“Southend are pretty consistent year after year,” said Minshull.

“They’re always in and around the play-offs so they are a benchmark for us to get to and beyond hopefully.

“We’ve got good home form now and teams coming to us are going to know that and they’re going to look at ways to stop us playing.

“But we’re always confident at home; we’ve got a good record at Rodney Parade of late and wins on the road can only help us as well.”

Minshull believes Saturday’s victory – the team’s first on the road since the 1-0 success at Portsmouth in August – will provide a big psychological boost.

“The win was important because we’ve had a lot of sticky draws away from home and if we can turn some of them into wins we’ll be there or there abouts,” said the 28-year-old.

“Dagenham are going through a sticky spell at home at the moment and we’ve been through similar spells ourselves so we know what it’s like and it was up to us to take advantage.

“Joe (Day) made some unbelievable saves but we stayed in the game and got the win.

“It was a great header from Zeb and a real bit of quality from Sands (Andy Sandell) with the cross and to win it in the last minute is a real boost, particularly with two home games to look forward to now.”

On the red card for Ogogo, Minshull explained: “There were arms flying and we both hit the ground but the lino came on and said he swung a punch at me so he had to go.

“There didn’t seem a lot in it at first but obviously it was a stupid decision on his part.”