NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn wants his side to take inspiration from near neighbours Cardiff City as they aim to force their way back into the promotion picture.

Cardiff are sitting pretty in the automatic promotion places in the Championship having won seven successive matches to surge seven points clear of the chasing pack with nine games remaining.

County are 11th in League Two – six points below the play-off places with 10 games still to play, starting at home to Luton Town tomorrow afternoon.

The clubs were fierce rivals throughout the 1980s but a decade has now passed since their last meeting, which saw County win on penalties in the FAW Premier Cup semi-final at Ninian Park back in February 2008.

Flynn, however, believes that the Exiles can follow the Bluebirds’ example and upset the odds to win promotion.

“Look at what Cardiff are doing,” said Flynn when discussing his side’s hopes of a top-seven finish.

“They’ve won seven in a row and Neil Warnock is doing a fantastic job there “They’re on a roll and even when they go behind you get the feeling that they’ll come back.

“We need to go on a run like that and get into that way of thinking and hopefully it will give us enough points to creep into that seventh spot.

“The gap is six points now but we have to concentrate on ourselves because if we don’t do the business then it doesn’t matter who wins, loses or draws.

“We’ve got to win football matches to catch them up and hopefully that starts on Saturday.”

South Wales Argus:

Flynn celebrated his first year as a manager last week and he’s a big fan of Warnock (above), who has won seven promotions with six different clubs during his 38 years in the dugout.

“I met Neil when I was doing the [UEFA] Pro Licence [coaching course] and we had a Q&A with him and I know [Cardiff assistant] Ronnie [Jepson] very well,” said the Exiles boss.

“He was my manager [at Gillingham] so I speak to him now and then.

“They’re doing a fantastic job down there and their budget I presume is a lot less than the other [big] clubs in that league.

“They won’t throw it away now,” he added. “I’m convinced that they will go up because he just knows how to do it. He is a top manager.

“He loves the game, he’s so passionate and he’s going to go out on his own this season in terms of the number of promotions he has won.

“If you give me half of his promotions I’d be happy.”

And Flynn is convinced that his squad has the mental strength to take the fight for a play-off place down to the wire.

He continued: “I think I said at the beginning of the season that the right mentality and the right togetherness can get you an extra 10 points a season.

“It’s something we’ve got here – it’s pulled us through in some games where it might not have in the past.

“And it’s kept us together when things haven’t gone our way, like losing 5-0 at Mansfield.

“We’re able to regroup. Home truths were told and nothing was taken personally because we all want to go to the end goal, which is finishing as high as we can in the league.”