THE EFL Cup is not a priority for Newport County AFC but midfielder Joss Labadie is determined to get a positive result tonight to wipe away the pain of Saturday’s last gasp defeat.

Labadie scored on his debut to make it 2-2 against Mansfield Town in the League Two opener but Kevan Hurst’s late winner sealed the points for the visitors.

The 25-year-old, one of 10 new signings to start at the weekend, says the players are hurting and desperate to beat League One MK Dons in tonight’s cup clash at Rodney Parade.

“Losing the game so close to the end like that is gutting for all the boys,” said the former Dagenham & Redbridge man.

“It just wasn’t meant to be. All the boys are really down but we’ve just got to pick our heads up and go again on Tuesday.

“We’ve got to channel that disappointment and go into the next game and try to rectify the mistakes we made.

“Personally I think there’s no such thing as a free game. I think we need to go into it as we would a league game and aim to win and that’s what we’ll do.

“MK Dons are a great footballing team but we’ve got the players who can cause an upset and we believe that we can progress to the next round.

“I’m sure we can get a positive result.”

Labadie is convinced that the Exiles will improve once they get to know each other and he’s hoping the club’s fans continue to get behind the new-look side.

“There were 10 new faces and we’ve only had four weeks to gel,” he said.

“I think the fans will tell you they were quite pleased with what they saw and I’m sure we can only get better from here on out.

“There’s great character in the group. We had a trip to Poland and the team is full of men, we get on really well and there is a great atmosphere in the changing room.

“That is exactly what the manager wanted to do and I’m sure we’re going to go from strength to strength now, build on that performance and hopefully get some results.

“The fans were fantastic [on Saturday],” he added. “I thought there was more than 3,000 and hopefully they can get behind us for the rest of the season and act as the 12th man because that will be a huge boost for everyone at the club.”