COACH Wayne Hatswell is certain Newport County AFC’s cup hammering by Southampton won’t dent their confidence for another tough League Two assignment on the road.

The Exiles suffered an 8-0 drubbing by the Saints at Rodney Parade on Wednesday evening, a club record defeat in the League Cup.

The Premier League side were ruthless after turning up with hunger and desire, playing at a pace that County couldn’t live with to score three in the first half and five after the break.

The Exiles can’t afford to wallow with Hatswell & Co having just two days of preparation for a third league trip to the north west of England of the season.

After winning at Oldham and Tranmere, the assistant coach is confident the Saints thrashing won’t harm their chances of making it an excellent August by getting something from a fixture against a Salford side tipped to be promotion contenders.

“It's not going to define our season, playing Southampton. We've got a really big game coming up against Salford now and that has always been in the back of our minds,” said Hatswell.

“We've been able to get a rest into some players and we were mindful that Saturday is important as well.”

South Wales Argus: TOUGH NIGHT: Wayne Hatswell on the touchlineTOUGH NIGHT: Wayne Hatswell on the touchline

“We've just got to get the rest and recovery into our players, that's it,” he continued.

“It's not going to take anything out of us mentally, we've got to forget about it. It's done, we move on, that's how we do it.

“I expect them to do exactly that, we will prepare for Salford and that's our next challenge.”

County didn’t select their strongest team for the Southampton game and are likely to bring back goalkeeper Joe Day, wing-backs Cameron Norman and Ryan Haynes, midfielder Scot Bennett and forwards Jermaine Hylton and Alex Fisher.

They rang the changes for their round one upset of Ipswich Town at Portman Road and got a result that led to the ‘deputies’ getting a crack against the Saints.

“We played well at Ipswich and some of them that played there were rewarded against Southampton,” said Hatswell. “They deserved a chance against a Premier League team in the next cup fixture.

“We've been mindful of the weekend, we move on now and forget it. Salford is out next challenge.”

The Ammies, who signed goalkeeper Tom King and full-back Liam Shephard from County in the summer, have made a poor start to the campaign.

They started with draws against Leyton Orient and Sutton United at home, lost 2-1 at Crawley and then suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Swindon Town.