NEWPORT County AFC will go to the Hive Stadium on Saturday with a point to prove when they face relegation-threatened Barnet, according to midfielder Ben Tozer.

The Bees, who sacked former Exiles boss Graham Westley last month, are fighting for their lives at the bottom of League Two.

Five points from safety with three matches left, Martin Allen’s men know any slip-up against County could spell the end for them.

Going in their favour this weekend is a very favourable record in the fixture – Barnet have never lost to the Exiles in the league and won 2-1 when the teams last met in November.

Tozer played in that game and recalls having to watch the Barnet players celebrate their win just outside the home dressing room.

“We lost against them last time,” he told iFollowExiles. “It was another one of those games where we were 1-0 up and should have seen the game out.

“We didn’t for whatever reason, so it’s a point to prove, and we all remember them celebrating on the pitch and outside of our changing rooms.

“If that’s something to take into the game then that’s something we will have to do.

“I think John Akinde scored the first at Rodney Parade. We all know that he will be a threat.

“He’s one of those strikers that is a bit of a powerhouse and we will have to nullify that.

“They will be fighting for their lives without a doubt. If they are not then it’s great for us because we’ll hopefully go down there and punish them.”

Akinde, like Morecambe’s Kevin Ellison, has been a thorn in the side of Newport since the Welsh club returned to the Football League.

The 28-year-old striker has scored five times in the last five encounters between the sides, including one in that autumn 2017 success.

But in Padraig Amond, Tozer, who like the Irishman netted in the 2-1 defeat of Swindon Town on Saturday, also feels County have a quality forward who knows where the target is.

“It’s great for him to get on the scoresheet because I think it has been a while for him,” he added.

“He had a couple of chan-ces against Coventry which didn’t go in for whatever reason.

“It’s also brilliant for him (to be the club’s top scorer outright with 13) and I think he’s unlucky to not perhaps have a few more.

“Everyone in the squad could have had a few more, but it’s great for him, and for us as a team, knowing he will be there to take the chances.

“He always causes problems as well (with his running off the ball). Every player has strengths and weaknesses and that is a big strength of his.

“He doesn’t stop, he’s very busy and he keeps defenders occupied which is great.”

The play-offs are all but out of County’s reach now but, as Tozer says, that doesn’t mean the team won’t be pushing for them until it is mathematically impossible to make the top seven.

“You’ve always got to keep going, even if you are just playing for pride,” he said.

“Everyone wants to win – if you don’t then you are in the wrong place.

“You’ve got to want to win every game, every ball, and everything to do with football or even another sport in my opinion.

“If you don’t want to win then there’s no point so we have to try and win every game left before the end of the season.

“We’ve obviously tried to do that all season, for whatever reason we haven’t been able to do that on occasion, but (Swindon) is something to build on.

“If you look back on the season as a whole, the home games especially, we had a spell before Christmas where we were 1-0 up in a lot of games and then dropped a fair few points.

“Even Accrington away if I remember rightly and then of course more recently, Luton and Coventry, it’s a lot of draws and dropped points from winning positions.

“If we’d have been that bit more ruthless in front of goal then we would have had the wins and looking even further up the table.”