NEWPORT County AFC strikers Will Evans and Seb Palmer-Houlden are both flying right now, but they’re determined to keep their feet on the ground and leave talk of a push for the League Two play-offs to others.
Evans scored his 20th goal of the season to level against Swindon Town last Saturday, before Palmer-Houlden’s seventh strike of an injury-hit campaign secured a 2-1 victory.
It was a third league win in a row for the Exiles and it took them to within four points of the top seven ahead of this weekend’s trip to Walsall.
With 17 matches still to play, anything is possible for Graham Coughlan’s men. But Evans and Palmer-Houlden are keen to take it game-by-game.
“People talking about the play-offs is just background noise,” said Evans. “We just want to train hard and represent the club and ourselves in the best way possible on matchday.
“If we keep putting points on the board, who knows? But at the moment we’ll just stay level-headed, keep putting the points on the board and you never know come the end of the season.
“It’s mad how it changes,” added the 26-year-old. “We’re four points off the play-offs now, but we’ve had some torrid times this year. We started really well, then we went on a bit of a slump. So, it’s an up and down season. You’ve just got to stay grounded, but it’s nice to be looking up the table rather than down.”
Palmer-Houlden is equally cautious about what County can achieve between now and May.
“We’ve just got to take every game as it comes,” said the Bristol City loanee. “You can’t think that far ahead and get ahead of ourselves.
“We’ve got Walsall away now and it will be a tough away game. If we can get another three points that will be four on the bounce.
“I think we’re building something, which is always good, but we’ll just see what happens.”
Evans and Palmer-Houlden appear to have established themselves as County’s first-choice strike partnership, but they know they can’t rest on their laurels with Luke Jephcott joining the squad in January and Offrande Zanzala back in action after almost 12 months on the sidelines. Omar Bogle, last season’s top scorer, is also due back from injury soon.
“It’s a good environment,” said Palmer-Houlden. “The gaffer and the boys have set that up and we’re a tight-knit group.
“Everyone is going to play their part. Having Oz back after a year and with Jephers coming in as well, it just gives the squad that bit of extra strength.”
Evans added: “Competition is healthy because we know we’ve got to raise our levels again.
“The best way to respond is to score goals and both of us did that [against Swindon].
“Having those two coming into the picture could be vital and it might be us on the bench sometimes coming on and playing that role.
“Boges is back in training as well, so we’ve got five solid strikers now – and you can chuck in Kiban [Rai] as well. It’s healthy competition.
“It’s a team game, we’re all good mates in the changing room and Jephers has settled in really well. We’ve all got a job to do.”
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