NEWPORT County AFC manager Graham Coughlan admits Forest Green Rovers’ signing of former Premier League star Troy Deeney is the kind of luxury he cannot afford, writes Andrew Penman.

Saturday's opponents brought in the former Watford striker in a player-coach role on Friday and, though he’s unlikely to play tomorrow afternoon, his experience could prove vital for Rovers.

It’s an asset that Coughlan would love to add to his squad with inexperienced duo Will Evans and Seb Palmer-Houlden currently leading the line in the absence of injured pair Omar Bogle and Offrande Zanzala.

“Troy Deeney is an experienced pro, and you could look at it how he would help Seb and Will, and even Omar Bogle, if we could bring him into our dressing room,” said Coughlan.

“That’s a nice luxury for Forest Green to have.

"I would relish something like that, but I haven’t got that luxury.

"Forest Green are a very good technical team,” he added. “We’ve had them looked at. It’s going to be a stern test.

“They’re a footballing team, but they’ve got really strong, powerful players and they’ve added to their squad with Deeney coming in alongside Matty Taylor – that’s a strike force that belongs in a higher division.

“They’re a very dangerous team with a lot of power at the back and on set-pieces with Ryan Inniss, who we will know well from his time here.”

Coughlan could make changes to his starting XI after conceding that tiredness was a factor in Tuesday’s 4-2 defeat at Crewe Alexandra.

“We need to bounce back, we need a response,” said the Exiles boss.

“We got one after the Accrington game, and I’m confident that we will get a response from the lads.

“In hindsight, there was an element of fatigue on Tuesday, and I should have made three or four changes at half-time.

“That’s on my head. I have to accept that the second-half performance was on myself rather than the player after what they’ve given us over the last few weeks.

“I’ve got bodies and I would ideally like to freshen up the team. There are one or two who can go in and help us and that’s something that we’ll look at.”

After conceding seven goals in two away games so far, Coughlan is determined to tighten up at the back.

“At the moment, with games on Saturday and Tuesday, it’s all about recovery. There’s no time to work on anything,” he said.

“I can’t wait for next week when it’s Saturday to Saturday and into September when we can get some good coaching sessions into the lads. They need a little bit of help defensively, with set-pieces and when the opposition come at us and ask questions of us.

“We’re conceding too many goals and it’s definitely a mentality thing. We’ve got to stop giving the opposition a leg-up. We’ve got to find a clean-sheet mentality.”