MARK O’Brien believes Newport County AFC can call on the spirit of the Great Escape to revive their flagging play-off hopes when Notts County return to Rodney Parade this afternoon.

Centre-back O’Brien was the unlikely hero as he rescued the Exiles from relegation with a last-gasp winner against the Magpies on the final day of last season.

And he’s set to return to the starting XI this afternoon as Michael Flynn’s men look to end a run of three successive defeats in League Two.

Despite taking Premier League Tottenham Hotspur to a replay in the FA Cup, County have been beaten at promotion-chasing Lincoln City and Colchester United in recent weeks.

And they are still licking their wounds after Tuesday night’s humbling 5-0 defeat at Mansfield Town.

That miserable result means they are seven points off the top seven in 12th position with 14 games left to play.

But O’Brien is convinced that they can stop the rot against fourth-placed Notts and force their way back into the play-off race.

“I don’t think there’s much gone wrong, I just think it’s a difficult part of the season,” said the Irishman.

“We’ve had so many highs and lows throughout the season and we obviously had the big high of the Tottenham games.

“In some aspects you look at it and think maybe we didn’t need the replay because maybe we needed to concentrate on the league.

“The cup run was great for the city but we know ourselves that the form in the league over the past few weeks hasn’t been good enough, for whatever reason that is.

“We’re trying to rectify that now by getting our heads down in training and we’re looking to put things right against Notts County.

“The last time they were here there was a lot on the game and, if anything, it’s even bigger now because we’re looking to push on at a different end of the table and we need to get a good win under our belts.”

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With nine homes games in their last 14 fixtures, O’Brien insists that this squad is capable of matching their spectacular end to last season.

“We know from last year that we’re capable of doing anything and we’ve got a lot more quality in the squad this season,” he said.

“So if we’re able to tap into that and bring out the best of what we have then we can have a successful end to the season.

“And it’s good to get back to Rodney Parade because we know what we’re capable of at home,” he added.

“We know that in our stadium it’s a fortress and we can pick up results.

“We saw it in the big games against Tottenham and Leeds, in the league and last season when we won games people thought we’d never win.

“We know it’s a place where we have the upper hand because we know what we’re capable of in front of our own fans.”