THE Newport County AFC injury jinx has struck again with the news that Byron Anthony has been ruled out of the run-in but Lenny Pidgeley could be fit to face Wycombe Wanderers tomorrow afternoon.

Anthony joins fellow centre-back Ismail Yakubu on the sidelines for the Exiles’ remaining five games of the League Two campaign.

The Newport-born defender requires another minor operation to relieve the pain in the leg he broke in the Capital One Cup win at Brighton in August.

New boys Darcy Blake and Kevin Feely are set to continue their partnership at the heart of the County defence for tomorrow’s must-not-lose encounter with relegation-threatened Wycombe at Rodney Parade (kick-off 3.07pm).

“We’ve had some bad news about Byron Anthony,” said Exiles boss Justin Edinburgh. "He’ll need another operation, which rules him out for the rest of the season.

“It’s nothing to seriously worry Byron. He just needs to have an operation to ease the pain in his leg.

“We’re without Ismail as well but we’ve got Darcy back from suspension now and I think young Kevin Feely has been excellent since he’s come here.

“It’s been the worst I’ve known as a manager in terms of the amount of injuries we’ve had this season,” he added.

“But it shows the strength in depth we’ve got in the squad to cope with that.”

There is good news, however, with the imminent return of number one goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley and progress for striker Aaron O’Connor.

“Aaron is taking part in training now and he’s progressing really well,” said Edinburgh. “We’re hopeful that we’ll see him back before the end of the season.”

And Pidgeley, who has been out since January 31 with ankle ligament damage, is delighted to be ready to play again.

“It has been ten weeks and I’ve been counting the days but I’m feeling good now,” said the former Chelsea stopper.

“The gaffer pulled me in after training and said he thought I was looking in good shape and he’s going to involve me.

“That’s good news for me and I can’t wait to play again.

“The last game I played we were eighth I think and now we’re fighting just to stay up so it’s a big difference but it’s just one of those things.

“We got on a bit of a bad run and we’ve had lots of difficulties but if we beat Wycombe we should be safe.

“They’ll be fighting for survival but it’s a winnable game and I think we can do it.

“Then we can hopefully end the season on a high and start planning for next season and a fresh start.”