Newport aim to avoid a miserable seven

Newport County attempt to avoid a seventh straight loss when taking on Tranmere in League Two on Saturday afternoon (15:00 BST).

David Hughes' men have lost five league games on the bounce after a 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Championship side Millwall.

Last season under Nelson Jardim, Newport suffered five losses in December and January, while they ended the campaign on a nine-game winless streak.

The Exiles suffered a nightmare end to the 2023-24 season under Graham Coughlan when a hectic schedule courtesy of an FA Cup run led to them falling out of the play-offs picture with eight straight defeats.

That matched the miserable run under Graham Westley in the 2016-17 'Great Escape' campaign.

Newport lost 3-2 at home to Bristol Rovers last weekend when unable to conjure an equaliser after late goals by midfielder Kai Whitmore and Leicester City loanee Nathan Opoko.

"Nobody likes losing, we hate it. The response in the week has been excellent and we have to take that out on the pitch at 3pm," said manager Hughes.

"Supporters, players, staff, we are all in it together and feel the same when it's a defeat. What we have to do is take some positivity from the fact that every game has been very close.

"I can assure supporters that the players and staff are doing absolutely everything to get another positive result on the board."

Tranmere have lost their last two league games against Notts County and Salford.