MICKEY Demetriou insists that Newport County AFC have the form and belief to remain in the Football League, writes Ryan Robinson.

The 26-year-old defender joined the Exiles in January on a deal until the end of the season and believes the club are making great strides towards safety.

“Seven out of eight unbeaten, if you’re not in the bottom two then you’re very happy with that,” he said.

“Of course we need to turn those draws into wins and we were unlucky not to do that in the week.”

Demetriou has played his part in a defence that has conceded only seven goals in those eight games.

In that time, the club has inched themselves closer to their relegation rivals and Demetriou regards that as a good sign of progression.

“The gaffer tells us to look at the bottom six; not the bottom two,” he said.

“We are now only seven points adrift [of 19th placed Accrington Stanley] so we need to win three games to catch up.”

Demetriou was part of the back-line that drew 1-1 with Morecambe on Tuesday, and he feels the defence collectively prevented the visitors from having a huge impact on the game.

“We had Jonah and Sid out on Tuesday and we still felt that we stopped Morecambe creating any clear cut opportunities,” he said.

“It was sloppy from us for the goal but we have to learn from it and better it at Mansfield.”

Despite the draw, Demetriou believes the wins are coming.

“We are always creating chances,” he added. “We had four or five chances which we didn’t take on both Saturday and Tuesday and as soon as we turn those opportunities into wins then we will get to where we want to be in the table.”

Demetriou has prior experience in League Two with Shrewsbury Town, winning promotion in 2015, and he’s confident he can use this experience to help the club get out of the drop-zone.

“Obviously the atmosphere and the situation is slightly different [to Shrewsbury],” he said.

“But me and a few lads have done well at other clubs and we need to try to help others keep their heads up.

“Being bottom of the table obviously makes that harder but we’re not going to get better if we sit around and sulk about the situation we find ourselves in.”

The club have been unlucky in recent games, with dubious penalty decisions going against them.

Although Demetriou agrees that the club should feel aggrieved, he insists that those incidents should be forgotten about and the club need to focus on the good parts of both games.

“Everyone says when you’re down there that decisions don’t go with you,” said the 26-year-old.

“Unfortunately, it was a clear penalty on Tuesday so hopefully a few decisions will go our way.

“However, there’s always positives to take from a football match so we need to make sure that we take those positives and build on them instead of dwelling on what should have gone our way.”

Fellow defender Darren Jones is back from suspension and is in contention to face Mansfield tomorrow, with Sid Nelson also edging closer to fitness, and Demetriou is confident that whoever plays will be focused on the three points.

“We know we have a back four or five with Joe behind us that can keep clean-sheets,” he said.

“We need to try and make sure that when the strikers score one or two, we can maintain the clean sheet and therefore the three points.”