Newport County's inspirational captain, Darren Jones, has called for his troops to seal their Nationwide South safety today against high-flying Thurrock (kick-off 3pm).

Victory would almost certainly keep County up and Jones, many fans' pick for player of the year, is in determined mood.

"If we win today, we should be safe," he said. "At this stage every match we play until we are safe is the biggest match of the season.

"The last thing we want is for it to go down to the last game of the season (against Maidenhead). That really is the worst-case scenario.

"There would be a hell of a lot of pressure on us so we want to be safe as soon as possible."

He added: "It is going to be tough because Thurrock are doing well (in third place and a play-off spot) but Maidenhead managed to beat them last week, although it might have been the case of one London club doing another a favour.

"But it shows that anything can happen and we know that if we do the business, we can beat anyone in this league.

"Apart from Grays (who are champions) there is nothing between the rest of the sides."

Jones believes the confidence gained from their 6-3 victory over Bishop's Stortford worked against them in the following defeat at Welling last Saturday but he insists there will be no repeat.

"We probably were a bit too confident," he said. "They were really up for it and we got a bit of a shock.

"There is no chance of that happening again against Thurrock."

It was almost the case that today would mark Jones' last appearance of the season due to a two-match ban incurred for going through the disciplinary points threshold, but with County going through to the Gwent

Senior Cup final on Thursday night, he will now only miss next week's trip to Lewes and be back for the final league match at home to Maidenhead.

Winger Jason Bowen will now also be available for that match as he too was due to be suspended after his red card at Redbridge in midweek.

The Maidenhead match could also be Jones' last appearance in an amber shirt as League Two's Northampton and Conference National's Woking are believed to be closely monitoring the defender.

"I am still under contract with Newport County and haven't heard anything," Jones said. "I will just keep my head down and get on with things as usual and if something happens, it happens.

"The club have told me from the start that if a higher league club came in for me they would not hold me back but I am not thinking about that at the moment."