MIDFIELDER Adam Chapman is back from suspension for Newport County AFC at Southend United tonight and he can’t wait to play with Ryan Burge.

The two playmakers have had just 18 minutes on the pitch together for the Exiles since Burge arrived in August due to injury and suspension.

And Chapman, who was banned for the last two matches after picking up his tenth yellow card of the season, is looking forward to forming a partnership with Burge in the heart of the Exiles midfield.

Both players are in contention to play at Roots Hall tonight and Chapman is delighted to be back after postponements prolonged his time on the sidelines to four weeks.

“It’s been very frustrating because the games have been called off and I haven’t played for four weeks,” said Chapman.

“But that just makes me want to get back out there and help the team.

“We haven’t been getting good results of late but I think our performances haven’t been too far off.

“We were a bit unlucky at Bristol last week and we weren’t too downbeat. The effort levels never drop and the results will come.

“We’ve got 13 home games to come so the run-in should be kinder to us than a lot of other teams,” he added.

“I’m sure that if we can get the pitch sorted and we get an ugly win we can get on a run.”

Chapman is happy to have a bit more competition in central midfield now that Burge and Max Porter are back from long injury lay-offs.

“Burgey’s a great player and it’s been frustrating for me, let alone him, because I’ve wanted to play with him and I still haven’t really,” he said.

“I’d have loved to have played with him in there and hopefully we can now.

“We’ve also got Max Porter coming back, Lee Minshull, Tom Naylor and the skipper (David Pipe) who can play in there as well.

“It is great competition and that is what is going to help us in the next few months because you can’t go through the season with just 14 players.”