STRIKER Shaun Jeffers has every chance of breaking into the starting XI for Newport County AFC according to assistant manager Jimmy Dack.

Jeffers scored his first County goal in Tuesday’s 3-1 Capital One Cup defeat at Reading and is the only Exiles player to find the net in the first week of the season.

And the 22-year-old could be in line for a start sooner rather than later, says Dack.

“Shaun works hard every day on his game and we were pleased for him to get the goal,” said Justin Edinburgh’s right hand man.

“We’ve played him left and right of three up front and it’s probably not done him any favours because he’s an out and out striker.

“He’s got loads of potential and I do admire him because he was at Peterborough in League One and he dropped down to play football – you’ve got to respect that.

“He’s not here to pick his money up – he’s here to succeed and do well for himself.

“He’s our top scorer at the moment and forwards thrive on confidence so why shouldn’t he be in the frame to start?”

Jeffers may be among the substitutes again at Morecambe today, however, as Dack and Edinburgh were impressed with the display in defeat at Championship club Reading.

The Exiles pushed the Royals all the way and were much improved from the lacklustre 2-0 home defeat to Wycombe Wanderers last Saturday.

“It’s not been the ideal week but sometimes you can lose doing it the right way – working hard,” said Dack.

“You don’t win every game and if you’re going to lose then you have to it doing the right things and that’s what we did on Tuesday.

“I think it was a good performance and I think the supporters, who were fantastic on Tuesday night, would have thought the same.

“All they expect is for the players, when they put the shirt on, will put in a shift and that’s all they ask.

“Reading only made two changes so they showed us a bit of respect,” he added.

“And we’re not Man United; we don’t have the squad to rotate. We need to get some consistency going and if that means keeping the same team as Tuesday then so be it.”