NEWPORT County AFC manager Graham Coughlan believes the World Cup, which gets under way on Sunday, can help shine a light on the quality of football on offer in Leagues One and Two.

With the Premier League and Championship forced into a mid-season break, Coughlan is expecting an increased focus on the third and fourth tiers over the next five weeks.

Dafydd Iwan will be at Rodney Parade tomorrow, Saturday, afternoon to sing Wales’ World Cup song, Yma o Hyd, before kick-off as County host fellow strugglers Gillingham.

And, while Coughlan is no fan of a winter tournament in Qatar, he’s hoping a big crowd can cheer his side on to victory this afternoon.

“I think it’s a strange time to hold a World Cup, it doesn’t sit right with me,” said the Exiles boss.

“And with all the controversy surrounding it, it’s dragging the game we love into the mire.

“But I think it will actually be great for League One and League Two with the publicity we should get because the Premier League and Championship are shut down.

“It’s a big opportunity to display the quality in League One and League Two with the focus and the media coverage on us.”

Coughlan’s men are 19th in League Two after last week’s home defeat to Stockport County but they will be confident of bouncing back against the Gills, who are 22nd.

Not that Coughlan is taking Neil Harris’ men lightly.

“Gillingham are going to be tough,” he said. “They’re coming off the back of a decent victory against Fylde in the week [in the FA Cup] and it will be a hardcore League Two battle.

“Neither of us is in a rich vein of form and neither of us is in the area of the table we’d want to be in, but it will be two honest teams giving it their all and may the best team win.”

County are just four points above the relegation zone after 18 games and Coughlan says he has been focused on getting the players fit for the battle ahead.

“I’ve not really looked at the table,” claimed the Irishman. “I’ve tried to focus on ourselves and getting us on the right path. I’ll probably look at the league a bit more in depth in January.

“In the short-term it’s about immediate wins and gains for myself and the players and I’ve certainly seen improvement.

“The lads are running further, running faster and they’re running harder. That’s very much part of my DNA – you have to have your teams working hard.

If you can outrun and outfight the opposition, you’ve half a chance of out-playing them.”

Coughlan has challenged his players to join his ‘10k club’ by running that distance during games – something that is closely monitored via GPS.

“Only one player got in that club in the game at Crawley before I took over,” he said. “I think last week we had five players in, so we’re growing each week.

“We do two sessions a day and a video analysis session as well so that’s three.

“I think the lads are enjoying it, or that’s what they tell me! It’s certainly a rude awakening for them and I’m probably boring the living daylights out of them! But I just want to make sure I’m leaving no stone unturned.”