NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn is hoping his players are well rested and ready for a battle at Mansfield Town tomorrow.

County saw Saturday’s home clash with Forest Green Rovers postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Rodney Parade, while Mansfield were beaten at Swindon Town to slip to sixth in the League Two table.

The Exiles dropped to 12th, six points below the play-off places, after being overtaken by Crawley Town at the weekend.

South Wales Argus:

Flynn acknowledged that his players may benefit from a weekend off after a tough recent fixture schedule, which culminated in the FA Cup fourth-round replay defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley last Wednesday.

But he was nonetheless frustrated that his side did not have the chance to keep pace with the top seven on Saturday.

“There’s no positive because we were raring to go. We’d recovered right and we were ready,” said the Exiles boss.

“We wanted to put Wednesday behind us and put on a good show in front of our own fans.

“I’m frustrated not to play – I would have loved playing in those circumstances but the game’s changed.

“It gives us a breather but sometimes the best thing is to get it out of your system and play straightaway and Saturday was our ideal opportunity to do that.

“It would have been nice to get back on the winning trail,” he added.

“It would have been a tough game because they’ve signed some experienced pros in the window.

“With the elements it would have been a tough one to call but hopefully we can get on a bit of a winning streak now and we can get back up the table.

“We’ve got a tough game now away on Tuesday and we’ve just got to go there fully focused and ready to go.”

South Wales Argus:

Flynn says Mansfield are amongst the favourites to win promotion this season.

“They are definitely contenders,” he said. “You only have to look at the budget they’ve got.

“They’ve got an experienced manager and they’ve got some really good players.

“We should have beaten them here but we didn’t. We were the better team and still didn’t win so that goes to show that they’ve got a group of fighters.

“It’s going to be a tough game but it’s one I’m hoping we can go and win.”

South Wales Argus:

Ben White and David Pipe (above) should be fit to play at Field Mill.

“I think Ben was fine [on Saturday],” explained the manager.

“Pipey is in good condition but he came off because of his hamstring again at Wembley so I possibly wouldn’t have risked him.

“I didn’t pick the team because I was waiting to see whether the game would be on or off but there would have been a few changes, that’s for sure.

“We’ll have a look at it and see how everyone is on Monday and we’ll try to pick a team to go and win a tough game at Mansfield.”