Wrexham boss Parkinson unsure if it is a good or bad time to face Welsh rivals Newport

Wrexham are second in League Two, 15 places above Newport County

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson is unsure if it is a good or bad time to face Newport County.

His side go to Rodney Parade on Saturday in League Two as Welsh rivals Newport contemplate hosting Manchester United the following weekend in the the FA Cup.

Parkinson said: "It's great for them to get through, obviously an exciting tie," said Parkinson.

"But who knows if it's a positive or negative with regards to our game."

Wrexham beat Newport 2-0 at the Stok Racecourse two days before Christmas with goals from James Jones and Elliot Lee and Parkinson is looking forward to a sell-out crowd at Rodney Parade.

Parkinson expects counterpart Graham Coughlan to "be doing everything in his powers to concentrate on the league game".

But the Wrexham boss' own past experience of playing a league game before eyeing cup an FA Cup giant-killing opportunity can have its own drawbacks.

"When I was manager of Colchester we drew Chelsea and the build up to it was great" said Parkinson.

"But it was after the game when the results dipped. Everyone was on a high playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge; it took us a while to get everyone going again"

Parkinson is "looking forward" to seeing his side in front of a passionate Newport crowd with Rodney Parade having a temporary stand to accommodate 1,000 more fans before Man Utd's visit.

"We're looking forward to that," said Parkinson.

"Rodney Parade is one of the very few grounds that I've never been to.

"Every game we've played has been a sell out so I don't think it's anything new. It's going to be a very competitive game, but one that I'm looking to keep our own run going."

Wrexham have won their last three games in all competitions, but their away form has not been as impressive as at home.

They are unbeaten at home in the league since the opening game of the season and have scored 43 goals there.

Wrexham are second in the league, two points behind Stockport, having played a game fewer. Away, however, they have won four and scored just 11 and Parkinson is very much aware of that record.

He added: "We've had a discussion with the lads this week, obviously away from home historically it's more difficult.

"But I think our mantra is we've got to play like the home team away, speed the game up, be really aggressive in everything we do, not for periods of the game, but to sustain it for 90 minutes.

"We know there's still five or 10% improvement to come from us away and we're looking forward to implementing it at the weekend"