TELFORD v COUNTY (Tonight, KO 7.45)

FRESH from sinking Southport on Saturday, super sub Ben Swallow is ready to torpedo Telford – if he gets the chance.

The 22-year-old from Barry has had less than an hour of competitive action for Newport County AFC since joining the club in the summer.

And after coming off the bench in the last four matches and hitting a superb injury time winner at Rodney Parade on Saturday he’s pushing hard for a starting place in Shropshire tonight.

But Swallow denies that he has been frustrated by his lack of minutes on the pitch and has pledged to keep on working hard for his opportunity.

“It’s not really been frustrating,” said the ex-Bristol Rovers winger. “Every time I come on, if it’s for five minutes or for half an hour, I try to make an impact and just do my best and hopefully that’s good enough.”

Manager Justin Edinburgh was impressed with Swallow’s impact at the weekend and praised his goal as worthy of winning any match at any level.

“It was my first goal for the club and I’m delighted,” said Swallow.

“I came off the bench and didn’t realise there wasn’t that much time to go but I remember one of the lads saying to me ‘it’s enough time to get a winner’ and thankfully it was.

“The manager just told me to get on the ball in the hole behind the strikers and roam around and try to get a goal and luckily enough I did.

“I think I got lucky,” he added. “The ball ricocheted off one of the defenders and I just turned and thought I’d hit it as hard as I could into the top corner.

“We were drawing and it was nice to get a winner and keep us on top of the league.

The whole squad is buzzing at the minute.

“The fans got behind us and really helped us over the line and it was great that they joined in with my celebration at the end.

“We want to stay on top of the table as long as we can and try to remain in the top six. Telford will be another test but we’ve just got to keep going.”

Exiles boss Edinburgh is hopeful of having Tony James available to face Andy Sinton’s mid-table side at New Bucks Head this evening.

The central defender missed the win over Southport with a strained abductor muscle in his hip.