NEWPORT County AFC could go from facing one burly striker to another imposing forward on Saturday afternoon, meaning they need to address a weakness from the first two months of the season.
The Exiles were given a 4-1 hammering by Bradford last weekend when Andy Cook scored a hat-trick and a response is needed at Salford City on Saturday.
They travel to Moor Lane to face an Ammies side who are in horrendous form with five League Two losses on the spin.
Salford were play-off semi-finalists last season but currently sit 21st in the table and are in dire need of a victory.
Like County, they are stretched by injuries with key figures Luke Garbutt, Callum Hendry, Theo Vassell and former Exile Liam Shephard among their absentees.
However, they do boast a serious threat in 6ft 6ins striker Harry Smith, who was an unused substitute in Tuesday’s 4-0 Carabao Cup loss to Premier League Burnley.
The experienced front man has scored five goals in 12 appearances this season and scored the clincher in Salford’s 3-1 win against County in Greater Manchester last March.
If restored to the XI, Smith and lively Conor McAleny will be a threat and the Exiles need to improve at defending their box.
So far in League Two they have conceded 13 goals in open play (68 per cent), three from set pieces (16), two penalties and one from a counter-attack.
County have been vulnerable to crosses put into their box, something that Cook ruthlessly exploited.
Two of his three goals were from headers in a central area, plus he also wasted two good chances from corners.
Bradford’s Rayhaan Tulloch made it 2-0 when he swept in at the far post, an area of weakness that also led to goals for Accrington (twice), Crewe and Sutton (plus Brentford in the Carabao Cup).
The tone was set on opening weekend when County put in a performance against Stanley that could (should?) have earned something only for late goals to come via deep balls from the hosts’ right wing that was knocked in by untracked runners coming from the left flank.
Mickey Demetriou’s second came in Crewe when he escaped his man at a corner while Omari Patrick fired in for Sutton after a deep cross to the left post was nodded across goal from inside the six-yard box, with Brentford scoring a similar goal just days later.
County have improved their own tally from open play thanks to getting bodies in the box but former defenders Graham Coughlan and Joe Dunne will know that an improvement is needed at the other end, both in terms of stopping the cross and dealing with it.
Injuries to James Clarke, Kyle Jameson and Matt Baker have stretched the Exiles at the back but the starters will be charged with getting back to last season’s no-frills, resolute approach from the start of the Coughlan era.
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