NEW loan signing Regan Poole believes Newport County AFC can upset the odds once again and shock Championship challengers Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fourth round.

Poole was watching as a fan when County dumped out former Premier League champions Leicester City in the third round.

But, after re-joining the club on loan from Manchester United last week, he’s set to be in the thick of the action this coming Saturday when the Exiles attempt to stun Tony Pulis’ Boro at the Riverside.

The 20-year-old is relishing the chance to test himself against the likes of Britt Assombalonga, Stewart Downing and Raj van La Parra and he fancies County’s chances.

“I’m available and hopefully I’ll be playing, I can’t wait,” said Poole, who impressed during Saturday’s 1-0 win over Exeter City in League Two.

“Not many people on loan go straight into the fourth round of the FA Cup. It’s great.

“I think we’ll approach it the same as they did against Leicester. The boys did very well in that game. I watched it.

“It’s another tough game in the FA Cup, but every game in the league is tough as well.

“We’ll approach it as we do any other game and try to do what we did [against Exeter] against them.

“This club loves an FA Cup run and hopefully another upset is on the cards.”

 

But Poole is clear that the league is the main priority for County and he believes the win over Exeter is a sign of things to come between now and May.

“The aim is to get this club as high as possible,” said the Exiles academy graduate, who made his debut aged 16.

“I believe, as we showed [on Saturday], that we’re defensively very good.

“Hopefully we can kick on now and start climbing the table and get back to where they were a few weeks before I came.”

After three-and-a-half years at Old Trafford, Poole thoroughly enjoyed his return to Rodney Parade at the weekend.

"It was a perfect performance," said the centre-back.

“Defensively, I thought we were very good. I couldn’t have asked for anything better really.

“I wanted a win and we got the clean sheet as well, which topped it off.

"I loved every minute of it, that's what I'm here to do and hopefully there’ll be many more like that.

"I'm going to give everything I can and hopefully I showed that,” he added.

“I want to help this club as much as I can. I tried to do that when I was first here and I’m trying to do that again.

“I think it’s just Joe Day and Robbie Willmott, and the manager, who were here when I left [in 2015] but there’s a great togetherness in the dressing room. I’ve only been here a few days and I can see that.

“When I was here under Justin [Edinburgh] we were doing well in the league as well and hopefully this is the season we can kick-on.”

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