MICHAEL Flynn insists that Newport County AFC will not be underestimating the challenge presented by relegation-threatened Barnet this afternoon.

The County manager take his side to The Hive Stadium knowing an away win could send the hosts down if other results go against the Bees.

But Flynn is taking nothing for granted after recent home defeats to struggling Crewe Alexandra and Stevenage.

Barnet have won their two home games since Martin Allen replaced Graham Westley as manager last month and they won 2-1 at Rodney Parade in November when Mark McGhee was in charge.

“We won’t be underestimating anyone, not while I’m here,” said the Exiles boss.

“It’s League Two – anybody can beat anybody. They beat us [at home] and I thought they played very well against us.

“They were a strong outfit and it’s going to be a tough game.

“They’re fighting for their lives and, in all honesty, there’s no pressure on us.

“We need to go out there and enjoy it and just play the football match, not the occasion.”

County are 12th in the League Two table while Barnet are 23rd – five points from safety with only three games left to play.

Realistically Allen’s men need to take a maximum nine points from their remaining games if they are to overhaul one of Grimsby Town, Forest Green Rovers or Morecambe.

Flynn is targeting three points today but he hopes Barnet can pull off a Great Escape to surpass that achieved by his Exiles last season

“Martin’s a great bloke, somebody I’ve always got along with and it’s going to be good to see him,” he said.

“He’s done it before at Barnet but it’s going to be hard for him because he didn’t have much time to work with.

“I hope that we win and by some miracle they still stay up.”

County midfielder Ben Tozer is not so well-disposed to Barnet after the defeat earlier in the season and he’s keen to make today’s opponents pay for the way they celebrated victory at Rodney Parade.

“It was another one of those games where we were 1-0 up and should have seen the game out but we didn’t for whatever reason,” Tozer told iFollowExiles.

“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.”

Tozer picked out Bees striker John Akinde as the main danger man this afternoon.

“I think he scored the first at Rodney Parade,” he added.

“We all know that he will be a threat, he’s one of them strikers that is a bit of a powerhouse and we will have to nullify that.”

Defender Ben White put the Exiles ahead on 73 minutes when the sides met in November but Akinde and Shaquile Coulthirst both scored in the final three minutes to snatch three points for the Londoners.

County have never beaten Barnet in a league match. Their only victory against the Bees came in the FA Cup second round in December 2015 when Scott Boden scored the only goal of the game at The Hive.

Barnet have won three and drawn two of the meetings between the sides over the past three seasons.

They also thrashed the Ironsides 6-1 in the FA Cup back in 1970 and won both matches in the Conference in the 1988-1989 season by an aggregate of 11-2 – results that were expunged from the record books after County went out of business in February 1989.