NEWPORT County AFC look to be on the up after a sticky spell but boss Michael Flynn is ready to play the underdog tag this weekend.

The sixth-placed Exiles travel to fifth-placed Morecambe with the aiming of maintaining their upward trend after a nightmare winter.

County have struggled since early December but there have been signs of life with 10 points from their last five games.

They are back in the play-off spots and keeping the top three on their toes in an extremely congested table; just six points separate leaders Cheltenham and Exeter in eighth.

"It's going to go to the wire. It's going to be hard to call," said Flynn after County's dramatic 2-1 win over promotion rivals Bradford City on Tuesday night.

The Exiles have won back-to-back games for the first time since December 8 and now hunt a hat-trick of successes for the first time since their October 31 victory of Harrogate, which was a fifth three-pointer on the spin.

That will be a tough challenge against a Morecambe side who have taken 13 points from their last six games.

"There's a long way to go and we've got a tough game again with Morecambe away," said Flynn, whose side won a tight meeting between the sides 2-1 in Newport thanks to Matty Dolan's 84th minute penalty.

"They are having an unbelievable season and the job that Derek Adams is doing is fantastic.

"I messaged him that a couple of weeks ago because they just keep churning out results and he deserves a lot credit because they are not the biggest payers.

"They are down the bottom budget-wise and you have to give other managers and teams credit for 'over-achieving'.

IMPRESSIVE: Derek Adams is doing a fine job at Morecambe

IMPRESSIVE: Derek Adams is doing a fine job at Morecambe

"Morecambe will be believing they are getting promoted, 100 per cent. Derek has got experience of that (with Plymouth in 2017) and it's going to be a tough, tough game at the weekend.

"We will probably go in as underdogs."

Wing-back Ryan Haynes missed the win over Bradford through injury when Aaron Lewis put in a solid performance as his deputy.

County struck in injury time against the Bantams to win and Morecambe also left it late for a point against promotion rivals Forest Green.

Carlos Mendes Gomes earned a 2-2 draw in the 94th minute at the New Lawn to the delight of Adams.

The manager said: "We deserved to win the game. It was a really good performance from us.

"We had 14 attempts on goal to Forest Green's seven. We outpassed them, we outpressed them and I think Forest Green knew they were in a game.

"Our players were fantastic.We defended well, we attacked really well, but we obviously failed to take the opportunities we created.

"We were excellent in midfield, our front three were tremendous and the back four got forward and defended well."