NEWPORT County AFC aim to keep the FA Cup feelgood factor going tonight as they return to League Two action against Port Vale and Jamille Matt insists the players can cope with a fixture backlog.

County host Vale at Rodney Parade just three days after Saturday’s superb 1-1 draw at Championship club Middlesbrough in the fourth round of the cup.

The Exiles then go to Grimsby Town at the weekend before welcoming Boro to Newport for the replay next week.

And there’s no let up in February for Michael Flynn’s men with home games against Mansfield Town, MK Dons and Swindon Town and trips to Notts County and Milton Keynes.

The Swindon home game would also need to be rearranged should County beat Boro next week to reach the FA Cup fifth round.

But Matt is adamant that the hectic schedule will not pose a problem.

“As players our bread and butter is playing matches and we’ll look forward to it,” said the striker after the draw at the Riverside Stadium.

“We’ve got to recover and look to Tuesday now.”

And Matt believes that Saturday’s result, and the timing of the equaliser from former Boro player Matty Dolan, can inspire an upturn in the club’s league form.

“You keep hope but, the longer the game went on, it looked like we were running out of time,” said the 29-year-old.

“It’s a brilliant moment for Matty Dolan obviously, with his connections to the club. And it’s fantastic for the fans who travelled all the way up and kept us going right until the end.

“It’s a brilliant result for us. I think we had the better chances and we would have felt hard done by to not get at least a replay.

“We’re just ecstatic to get it right at the end.

South Wales Argus:

“It all added to the emotion and you could see how much it meant to us and to the fans.

“That’s what we need moving forward – to be united as fans and players – and who knows where it can take us?”

Matt believes Boro will be up against it in the replay.

“We’re strong at home and we’re looking forward to getting them back there and trying to get through to the next round,” he said.

“We definitely think we can beat them – we could have done it [on Saturday] with the chance we created.

“This result is a big boost for us and we’ve shown that we’ve got quality in the squad with the subs that came on,” he added.

“Labs [Joss Labadie] came on and made an impact and Josh Sheehan was involved in creating the goal.

“We probably haven’t seen Matty that high up the pitch all season. He really wanted that goal when he came on and we’re all buzzing for him.”

County will be without Antoine Semenyo tonight after the striker was recalled by his parent club Bristol City.

Defender Fraser Franks is also set to miss out again with an ankle injury and Nick Townsend could continue to deputise in goal as Joe Day's wife is expecting twins.

Read more: Dolan's delight after last-gasp equaliser at Boro