NEWPORT County AFC defender Mickey Demetriou has underlined the importance of his side’s League Two encounter with Carlisle United this Saturday.

In fact, the star centre-back reckons it is probably more important than the 2-0 FA Cup second round victory over Cambridge United last weekend.

County are just two points shy of the play-off places but Keith Curle’s visitors to Rodney Parade (kick-off 3pm) sit just a win away from Michael Flynn’s men.

And while reaching round three of the cup, and the subsequent home tie with Leeds United, was pleasing for Demetriou, it’s the bread and butter of the league that is now the primary focus.

“It was a great win (on Sunday) but we probably have a more important game coming up in the league on Saturday against Carlisle,” he told iFollow Exiles.

“We can’t dwell on the wins and we can’t dwell on the losses – I’ve said that plenty of times.

“If we do make a mistake and lose a game then we need to get over it and bounce back.

“We did that last week against Swindon and we followed it up with a good result (against Cambridge).

“It’s a big month ahead of us now, obviously things happen during the Christmas period, so hopefully we can get a few more wins under our belt and go from there.”

Demetriou was a standout performer for the Exiles last weekend and shutting out the U’s attack gave the 27-year-old and his fellow defenders a ninth clean sheet of the season in all competitions.

“I think we deserved the clean sheet,” he added.

“I don’t think Joe (Day, goalkeeper) had much to do – the only thing he did have to do was clear up after he slipped.

“We’ll take the clean sheet. I’m not sure how many that is now but I’m sure Joe will know if I asked him.

“I think it’s around 10 or something like that.

“As a back five we are happy to keep the clean sheet because that’s our main job at the end of the day.

“And if we keep a clean sheet then we are likely to score at the other end.”

He continued: “We played well as a team and I think we deserved to win after that performance.

“Cambridge created a couple of good chances because they are a very good side.

“They came and played against us, they didn’t sit back and hope for a result.

“They took the game to us, we matched that, got an early goal which probably settled the nerves for everyone and it was a brilliant finish from Labz (Joss Labadie) for his second.

“It is really nice to get through to the next round of the FA Cup and it gives the fans something to cheer about.

“They haven’t really had so much to cheer about these last few months so hopefully that’ll do them well.”