NEW signing Luke Jephcott is aiming to help Newport County AFC continue to climb the League Two table after ending his debut on the winning side against Swindon Town last Saturday.

Jephcott, who joined the Exiles from Scottish side St Johnstone in January, missed out on the FA Cup clash with Manchester United as he didn’t receive international clearance in time.

He eventually got his first taste of action in an amber shirt as a late substitute as County fought back from a goal down to beat his former side Swindon Town 2-1 at Rodney Parade.

Now he’s targeting more minutes and a first goal as Graham Coughlan’s men head to Walsall this Saturday, aiming to extend their six-game unbeaten run in the league and keep themselves in the play-off picture.

The Exiles are currently 13th in the table – four points below seventh-placed Notts County, who they host on Tuesday night.

Walsall, who saw their midweek clash with Morecambe postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Bescot Stadium, are two points below County in 15th place.

“We’re working hard on the training ground and preparing well,” said Jephcott.

“I’m sure we will be doing plenty of analysis in the coming days, we’ll take note from that and look to put it into practise on Saturday afternoon.

“The targets for the second-half of the season has to be to continue to get as many points as possible and continue to climb the league,” added the former Wales under-21 striker.

“We’ve put together a good run of results and the confidence from those results I feel is showing.

“On a personal level, I am hoping to score goals for the club and continue to help the team accumulate as many points as we can!”

Jephcott enjoyed his first experience of playing with the Rodney Parade crowd on his side, having previously lost there with Swindon.

“It was an amazing feeling to make my debut,” said the Aberystwyth-born forwrd. “For me personally it was nice to be back on the pitch and playing again.

“I thought the fans created a really positive atmosphere and that really helped us throughout the game.

“To make my debut was amazing, but more importantly we got the hard-fought three points in the derby!

“I think we played okay in parts of the first half,” he added.

“Swindon had some chances early on, but we defended well and dug deep, which is important.

“In the second-half though, we got into a bit of rhythm and started to control the game. Will [Evans] and Seb [Palmer-Houlden] showed their class with their goals, but, overall, it was a hard fought three points and a solid team performance.”