GOALKEEPER Joe Day believes Saturday’s clean sheet against Crawley Town has given Newport County AFC something to build on as they look to start 2019 with a win at Stevenage today, writes Andrew Penman.

The 0-0 draw ended a run of three straight defeats in League Two and lifted County to 10th in the table – four points below the play-off places with a game in hand.

It was a first clean sheet in the league since November 17 and Day sees that as a positive to take into this afternoon’s match.

“We wanted the win but the most important thing was to make sure we got a clean sheet,” said the 28-year-old. “That was the bare minimum we wanted.

“We wanted to keep it tight and not concede and we did that so it’s a step in the right direction.

“[We] would have liked it to have been three points, [but] we need to take the confidence of the clean sheet and hopefully get three points [at Stevenage].

“It’s been a tough Christmas but the games are coming quickly and we’ve got to try not to dwell on results,” he added.

“We’ve stopped the rot and given ourselves a platform to build on.

“Now we’ve got to move on and look ahead to Stevenage.

“It’s still positive, even though we’ve had a little bad run, a blip, we’re still in a good position.

“But it’s the old cliché – one game at a time – we can’t think we need to win this amount to get back into the play-offs, we just take each game as it comes.

“We try to get the three points every game and that is what we look to do on Tuesday.”

County have not won at Stevenage since being promoted to League Two in 2013, losing three and drawing one of their four trips to the Lamex Stadium.

“It’s always a battle there,” said Day, who insists Sunday’s FA Cup clash with Premier League Leicester City will not be a distraction for the Exiles.

“You know you’re going to get a hard-fought game so we know what to expect and we’re prepared for that.

“We can’t think about Leicester yet,” he added. “We’ve got a more important game at Stevenage first and I know everyone in the dressing room is focused on that.

“I’m sure, after Stevenage, last years’ experiences [against Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup] should help us mentally.

“We’ve got players I know will deal with playing on that stage, but we’ll deal with that when it comes.”

Manager Michael Flynn hopes to have loan star Antoine Semenyo available again today after the striker missed out on Saturday due to a chest infection.

Joss Labadie will not be involved as he continues to recover from a knee injury he picked up against Forest Green Rovers on Boxing Day.

Fellow midfielders Matty Dolan and Andrew Crofts are also doubtful after both were forced off against Crawley.