NEWPORT County AFC manager Jimmy Dack is targeting three wins from the final five games of the season to clinch a League Two play-off place, writes Andrew Penman.

The race to finish in the top seven is set to go down to the wire with County one of five teams battling for sixth and seventh spot in the table.

Stevenage and the Exiles are currently the right side of the dotted line but Plymouth Argyle, Luton Town and Exeter City are all just one point behind.

Dack’s men host fourth-placed Bury at Rodney Parade on Saturday before a trip to fifth-placed Southend United on Tuesday.

The final three games of the campaign are at home to Dagenham & Redbridge next Saturday and away to York City on April 25 before Oxford United come to Newport on May 2.

“They’re all big games now,” said Dack, who is hoping his side can bounce back from Monday’s 2-0 defeat at Exeter.

“The next one is the biggest one for us and then Southend will be the biggest.

“We probably need three wins from five games, which is a big ask but I know that we’re capable of doing it.

“We keep playing teams at the minute who are in form – Hartlepool, Exeter, Bury and Southend.

“But we’re not in the play-offs by luck; we’re there by hard work and determination.

“And we’ll keep going until the end, that’s what this club is all about.”

County will be without defender Ismail Yakubu on Saturday after the club decided not to appeal against the red card he received at St James Park.

Dack still insists that Yakubu should not have been sent off for the foul that led to the Grecians' second goal from the penalty spot.

But, having viewed the video, he says an appeal would be a waste of time and Yakubu will serve a one-game ban.

“Looking at it again, I think the player has looked for the penalty,” he told the club’s official website.

“He’s got beyond Yaks and then he's stopped and come across him but there's no point appealing.

“We've appealed sendings off before and it's gets you nowhere, you've got to lick your wounds, dust yourself down and go again.”