NEWPORT County AFC manager Michael Flynn has told his players to forget about the prospect of facing Leicester City in the FA Cup and focus on winning two huge games over the next week.

Leicester could be coming to Rodney Parade for a third-round tie in the first week of January but Flynn is not allowing himself or his players to get excited by a potential clash with the former Premier League champions.

The Exiles boss knows his side must not take anything for granted in next Tuesday’s second-round replay with Wrexham at Rodney Parade after the sides drew 0-0 at The Racecourse Ground last Saturday.

And all his attention this week is directed towards winning three points at Swindon Town on Saturday, which could see his side climb back into the automatic promotion places in League Two.

Asked about a potential home clash with the Foxes, who were champions of England in 2016, Flynn said: “I’m not interested in it at this stage. We’ve got Swindon on Saturday – that’s all I’m concerned about.

“And then we’ve got a big game against Wrexham.

“It means nothing. It could be Real Madrid but if we lose it means nothing.

“I hope it doesn’t enter the players’ minds because they won’t be playing [if it does].”

Flynn made seven changes as County went out of the Checkatrade Trophy on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night.

Tyler Forbes and Joss Labadie returned from injury at Whaddon Road and the likes of Robbie Willmott, Matty Dolan and Keanu Marsh-Brown could be in contention at the weekend.

“It was great for Tyler and Joss to get some minutes and hopefully we’ll have a few more back for Saturday,” said Flynn.

“That’s what we need. We haven’t had that competition of late. We’ve had to keep to the same players and they’ve done very well but they’ve played a lot of games and we need to freshen it up a little bit.

“We’ve got too many games in the next month and they’re all big ones.

“It’s unfortunate we didn’t win some money for the club [at Cheltenham], but we’ve got a few more opportunities to do that over the next few weeks.”

South Wales Argus:

Labadie replaced Charlie Cooper (above) for the final 20 minutes on Tuesday and scored in the penalty shootout but his return will be gradual after a long recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament knee injury he suffered in March.

“He’s definitely not ready to start yet,” said the manager.

“He’s got a long way to go and I’m not putting any pressure on him.

“It’s the first step of the final stage and he got a good 20 minutes, he scored a penalty and he looked confident so I’m really happy.

“I’m not going to rush him. He’s been training very hard with us but we’ve got to make sure he doesn’t pull up with any other injuries.

“It’s not the knee I’m worried about – it’s the hamstring going, or the calf, or the thigh.

“He needs to get back into it solidly and when he’s right he’ll be involved regularly.

“League Two is slightly different [from the Trophy], but I thought it was a high tempo game and he looked fine.”