SPORTING director Darren Kelly won’t calling the shots in Newport County AFC’s League Two clash against Colchester on Saturday and is confident that the new manager will be in the home dugout at Rodney Parade.

Kelly was in charge for the 2-1 loss at Crawley last weekend and Tuesday’s 2-1 EFL Trophy win against Southampton Under-21s.

The sporting director has held the reins since the sacking of manager James Rowberry and his assistant Carl Serrant.

The board are closing in on an appointment with Mark Cooper, who led Forest Green Rovers to the Football League, now the frontrunner.

County have held interviews with leading candidates and a deal is likely before the vital home clash against fellow strugglers Colchester.

“Anything can happen but for me Southampton was my last game. There are a lot of things going on in the background and we have done a lot of work over the last week,” said Kelly.

“Things are progressing well and hopefully they will be concluded very soon. I would say it will be within days but the most important thing is that it’s not a rushed job.

“It’s making sure it’s the right person and the right fit for this football club, because we want to start getting the wins under our belt with a person making the right impact.

“The last week there has been a lot of hard work done by everybody at the club to make sure that we get the right appointment.”

South Wales Argus: Jarred Harvey with Nathan Moriah-Welsh before the gameJarred Harvey with Nathan Moriah-Welsh before the game (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

Kelly has been in charge for the last two games, assisted by first team coach Jarred Harvey and goalkeeping coach Jim Hollman.

However, the sporting director will definitely not be calling the shots at Rodney Parade on Saturday, even if there is a spanner in the works in the manager hunt.

“I go away on Thursday and that was planned months ago. It’s very personal circumstances otherwise to be quite honest it might have been a different story,” said Kelly.

“The process has been planned with a structure in place and we are very close with what we need to do for the next appointment.

“We have worked extensively hard over the last week to make sure the appointment is right and we are near the end of that, so hopefully we can have it concluded in the next day or two.”