NEWPORT County AFC face their last tune-up game before the start of the new season on Saturday at Forest Green Rovers.

County will travel to The New Lawn to face last season’s League Two champions to prepare for next week’s season opener at Sutton United.

After most players got 90 minutes under their belts in the games at Weston-Super-Mare and Torquay last weekend, Saturday’s match will likely be more representative of what’s to come in the competitive fixtures.

However, boss James Rowberry said there is still things he is looking for before deciding on the team that will start next weekend.

“I wouldn’t say I’ll be nailing any team down until probably a week Friday before we play Sutton,” he said.

“We’re still looking at things and how it will work and how we’re going to operate.

“Most lads have now had 90 minutes, so we’ve hit that target – which is important.

“Saturday will be a little bit different because it will be a mixed amount of minutes with different things that I want to see. I won’t be nailing my colours to the mast quite yet.”

Rowberry said he expects to see Forest Green keeping the ball on the floor under new boss Ian Burchnall – who succeeded Graham Potter at Östersunds when the now-Brighton manager left for Swansea City.

“I think they’ll be a predominantly possession-based team, dominant in that sense, so it will test our structure for when we play against an in-possession team,” he said.

“You look at the Torquay game, that tested us from a direct approach, which is what a lot of the games will be like.

“We tested ourselves with that physical aspect against Torquay, now we’ll test ourselves against a team that wants to try and play football and try and play through the lines. It will test our structure a little bit more.”

After a County eleven hit four against Weston-Super-Mare, an entirely different starting line-up were then held to a goalless draw by National League Torquay.

“It’s always nice to win games, you always go out to try and win,” said Rowberry. “But the results are not the most important thing in pre-season.

“With the type of game it ended up being, it ended up being a good challenge for us as it was a tough, physical, stagnated game.

“It will stand us in good stead for next season.

“They had four shots at goal, we had 10, so we’ve gone there and defended pretty well, we’ve attacked pretty well and the same on Friday night – I was really pleased with how we played and especially some of the younger lads and what they did.

“For me, pre-season is about the team gelling together, developing our principals in what we’re trying to work on, and it’s starting to become a little bit clearer now.”

After missing the trip to the West Country, Will Evans has returned to training and is back available, but Jack Karadogan – who picked up a knock to his knee against Weston-Super-Mare – will not be involved.