NEWPORT County AFC manager Graham Westley remains confident that his side can and will avoid relegation.

County are six points from safety at the bottom of League Two after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Mansfield Town.

And the Exiles could be further adrift after tomorrow night’s fixtures as they are without a match while their relegation rivals are all in action.

Westley admits that the table does not look good for his side but he’s convinced that they can get out of trouble.

“I know we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “I know we’ve got to go and win football matches.

“But, honestly, I think we’re capable of winning football matches.

“I think the lads have come together really well, it’s good that we’ve got a clear week ahead of us because hopefully one or two of the knocks will clear up.”

Next Saturday’s home clash with 23rd-placed Leyton Orient looks like a season-defining match for the Exiles but Westley believes that all 13 remaining matches are equally important.

And he is backing his players to show their true quality between now and May.

“It doesn’t matter who we win the points against,” said the manager. “We’ve got to go and win some football matches.

“We’ve been on a good unbeaten run until we lost at Cambridge last weekend, we reacted well in midweek and earned another hard-earned point, but we’ve got to win some football matches – we know that.

“I think we’re more than capable of grinding out some points and I think these boys will show the quality that they’ve got, the quality of character, the strength of resolve, and I fully expect them to go and win points in the coming games.

“And by the time we’re talking eight games down the line I’m sure we’ll all have a different look on our faces.”

County should be boosted by the return of several players this week with David Pipe, Sid Nelson, Mark O’Brien, Joss Labadie and Sean Rigg all likely to be in contention.

But Michael Flynn is expected to be sidelined for a number of weeks.

“We lost Pipey through illness on Friday,” explained Westley.

“Sid obviously we lost from the side that was doing well, Mark went off with a recurrence of the injury that took him off the other night, and then Flynny pulled a hamstring as well so it’s been tough.

“But we don’t want to look to that for excuses.

“We will be getting Labadie back, we will be getting Riggy back, we will be getting Sid and O’Brien and Pipey back so we go into next weekend with a lot of players back who have been performing really well for us.

“And I’m sure that our performance will go on a notch from what was a strong level in that second half.”