WARREN Feeney admits he would love to hand deals to Newport County AFC trialists Marlon Jackson and Paul Bignot but needs to find room in his tight budget.

The pair have played big roles in the Exiles' pre-season preparations as they attempt to earn contracts ahead of the League Two opener against Mansfield on August 6.

Striker Jackson scored two well-taken goals in Tuesday's 8-1 friendly demolition of Weston-super-Mare, adding to his strikes against Caldicot and KS Polkowice.

With Lenell John-Lewis facing a spell on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury and Jon Parkin suspended for the first three games of the season, the former Bristol City and Hereford man would be a welcome addition alongside fellow forwards Sean Rigg and Tom Meechan.

Bignot won the Conference South with the Exiles to earn a move to then Championship side Blackpool in 2011.

The 30-year-old put in another accomplished display when playing 90 minutes at Weston, starting at his usual position of full-back in a back four before slotting in on the right of three centre-backs.

"I would like to sign them both," admitted Feeney. "It's a difficult one because I want to get them done and dusted.

"Fair play to them and if it was me I'd probably be thinking I had put myself in the spotlight and done enough to get a deal.

"Marlon has done very, very well, so has 'Biggy' and I would like to get something sorted with them. They know where we are and if I had X amount of money it would be easy.

"But I am in a position where we don't have the biggest budget in the league, probably a competitive budget around the bottom five or six teams.

"I've just got to be wise with it and if I can get the two of them in I would be delighted to."

South Wales Argus:

County will assess Darren Jones' ankle after the defender was caught late in Somerset while John-Lewis is still waiting to learn the magnitude of the knee injury that he suffered when falling awkwardly at Caldicot in the first game of pre-season.

"He (John-Lewis) has had another scan and it's going to be a while (out injured) but until we know the full extent we can't really comment (on a timescale). He was in on Monday and we are trying to involve him as much as we can," said Feeney.

County are poised to field a youthful side in their Thursday night encounter with Ton Pentre before stepping things up a notch at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.

Feeney was pleased with the workout at Weston but knows there is plenty of graft to be done ahead of the Stags fixture at Rodney Parade.

He said: "Win, lose or draw pre-season is about getting fit and we are getting that bit sharper. There are one or two things to work on but we went about our job very professionally.

"It's getting closer but there are still things we need to work on and sharpen up. The players are getting there and Saturday will be a good test."