NEWPORT County manager Justin Edinburgh hopes to be at full strength in defence at Northwich Victoria tomorrow (KO 3pm), which will make up for a shortage of numbers up front.

The Exiles boss is waiting on the fitness of captain and defensive rock Gary Warren, who missed Tuesday’s defeat at Tamworth with a hamstring injury.

Warren took some part in training yesterday and Edinburgh will assess whether he is ready to play in the FA Trophy quarter-final after another session today.

Fellow central defender Ismail Yakubu is fit to start at Macclesfield’s Moss Rose ground after he was withdrawn late on against Tamworth in midweek.

That is a big boost for County who are without three cup-tied attackers this weekend.

Winger Andy Sandell and strikers Ryan Charles and Jake Reid are all unavailable as the team looks to bounce back from their first defeat of the month and take another big step on a potential trip to Wembley at the end of the season.

“We are hopeful that Gary will be available to be included in the squad,” said Edinburgh.

“He joined in the warm-up yesterday and we will increase the workload today and hope that he doesn’t have a reaction.

“Ismail was very fatigued on Tuesday because it was his first game for a long time but he has trained as usual and is fit to play, which is a massive plus for us.”

Edinburgh has watched Northwich on several occasions and is dismissive of the idea that the Evo-Stik Northern Premier outfit will be easy prey for his side. County have beaten lower-league opposition in the last two rounds of the FA Trophy with victories over Worksop Town and Carshalton Athletic, while the Vics have knocked out Fleetwood Town, Staines Town and Hampton & Richmond on the way to the quarter-finals.

“We have to give Northwich the respect they deserve,” said Edinburgh.

“They are challenging at the top of their league so they’re used to winning and they have already dispatched some good teams in this competition.

“I don’t go along with anyone saying this is an easy passage to the semi-finals for us.

“We will have to be on our game but if we show the same attitude we did against Carshalton and Worksop then we have a very good chance of winning the game.

“We should have won on Tuesday and we want to bounce back from that,” Edinburgh added.

“We could have won 4-0 on another night but we have to put that out of our minds now and concentrate on starting another winning run and hopefully getting one step closer to a day out at Wembley.”