NEWPORT County AFC star Jake Thomson insists the Exiles have proved they are one of the best sides in the Conference despite Saturday’s defeat at Wrexham.

County look to bounce back from their 2-0 reverse at The Racecourse with victory at Dartford tomorrow night and the Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder says there is nothing to fear in the division.

Goals from Adrian Cieslewicz and Danny Wright ended their 100 per cent start to the season but Justin Edinburgh’s men remain top of the table and Thomson believes they can stay there.

“It was two good teams coming up against each other and Wrexham just happened to get the better of us on the day,” said the 23-year-old.

“We didn’t have a cutting edge in the final third but I thought we played well as a team.

“They scored two goals but I never felt they were going to score. I felt like we outplayed them at their place, even though we lost 2-0. If this is one of the best teams in the league then I’m not worried.

“The manager was disappointed but the effort was there. It was a nearly game. On another night we’ll not play any different and score three goals and win,” he added.

“But five wins from six games is a great start. If we’d been offered that at the start of the season we would have taken that definitely.”

Thomson is now concentrating on getting back to winning ways against Dartford.

“It was going to come to an end at some point and now it’s all about how we bounce back on Tuesday night and start another run,” he said.

“Now we’ve lost a game we will test ourselves to see if we can come back and get another three points to keep everyone else chasing us.”

Striker Danny Crow was missing on Saturday with a knee injury and his chances of facing Dartford are rated as 50/50.

“Whenever you come to a place like Wrexham without one of your top players you are always going to miss them,” said Thomson.

“It was a disappointment not to have Crowy there. He’s one of those players you look at in the dressing- room and think, ‘if I give the ball to him he’s not going to lose it,’ so it hurt us that he wasn’t able to play.”