MICKEY Demetriou knows better than most to take no notice of league position as Newport County AFC attempt to get their promotion bid back on track against struggling Oldham Athletic.
The Exiles entertain the Latics at Rodney Parade in a clash that would have been seen as a home banker a few weeks ago.
County head into the game on the back of successive losses but they were on the road against leaders Forest Green Rovers and third-placed Northampton.
They are still favourites for success against 23rd-placed Oldham but the return of John Sheridan, who was briefly of Rodney Parade in 2015/16, to Boundary Park has other clubs looking over their shoulders.
The Latics head to Newport fresh from a draw against Rochdale and wins against Scunthorpe and Bristol Rovers, a run that has closed the gap to Carlisle and Walsall to two and four points respectively with a game in hand.
Demetriou was a member of the Exiles side that completed their own great escape in 2017, scoring from the spot in the famous 2-1 win over Notts County, and knows the threat from this weekend’s opponents.
“Oldham will be fighting for their lives and everyone at this club knows that. We have still got players who have been in that position and this will not be easy,” said the centre-back.
“Every team in this division is a good one on their day and we need to be on our game, and better than we were in Northampton.”
County were second best at Forest Green but should have left Sixfields with at least a point only to be hit by Fraser Horsfall’s close-range finish from a corner with eight minutes to go.
“We were disappointed but you could argue that their ‘keeper was man of the match, so I feel that we deserved something,” said Demetriou, who is captain while Matty Dolan has to settle for a spot on the bench.
“We had chances and on another day Finn Azaz, Dom Telford or Josh Pask would have scored but it was a set piece that cost us and that is frustrating.
“On another day it would have been 0-0, or 1-0 to us. You could say that they did to us what we did to Leyton Orient a few weeks ago.
“We were disappointed but we dust ourselves down to go again – we can’t afford to dwell on losses and never do.”
County get a swift chance to respond with the Oldham clash kicking off a pivotal run of five Rodney Parade fixtures on the spin.
The Latics are followed by a trio of sides in the promotion mix in Mansfield, Tranmere and Forest Green then a Bristol Rovers team that could climb into play-off contention.
“We’ve got a run of games at home and need to make them count,” said Demetriou.
“It’s not panic stations after losing to Forest Green and Northampton but it does mean that we have to get some good results from these five games and then continue that form for the rest of the season.
“It’s still only February and we have 16 big games – with 10 of them home – to get as many points as we can. The table doesn’t really matter until the last day of the season.
“We are disappointed by how the last two games have gone but we have got a good squad and know that we have the chance to put it right on Saturday.”
County won 1-0 at Boundary Park on the opening weekend of the season thanks to Kevin Ellison's header at the death.
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