SO WHICH Newport County AFC will we see when the Hatters come to town?

Because at the moment, County are about as easy to predict as Eric Cantona, an enigmatic side who don’t score enough goals to mask the degrees to which they are fluctuating.

In the past month the Exiles have produced two of their most impressive away performances in living memory at Wycombe and Burton, as well as battling unluckily to defeat at Stevenage, but at home, they’ve gone wildly off course.

Fortress Rodney Parade is currently more like a quaint B&B in the Cotswolds or a chalet in the South of France, inviting, enticing and exactly the kind of place under pressure football teams can come to unwind and enjoy some hospitality.

And on Friday between 7.45pm to 8.30pm the Exiles weren’t just hospitable, they were practically offering a silver service.

‘Complete three passes, get a free run on goal’, ‘come within a yard of us when we’ve got the ball and you can have it back’, this was about as chivalrous as eleven men could possibly be on a Friday evening.

In the first half the Exiles were undeniably poor, ponderous and nervous in possession, hesitant and disorganised defensively and with tactics that were downright absurd, direct balls to Aaron O’Connor and Miles Storey, exploiting none of their strengths and actually highlighting their weaknesses, far too common.

In fairly assessing the game it would be remiss not to point out that the visitors, battling against relegation, could’ve been out of sight at half time, having been head and shoulders the superior side.

The Exiles might claim that they edged the second period and they would be right, but on the balance of play over 90 minutes, County can’t count themselves unlucky, as assistant manager Wayne Hatswell attested.

“We obviously again couldn’t find that finishing touch in the final third, a couple of things nearly fell for us but it was obviously just not meant to be and it is a point gained for Cheltenham,” he said.

“But we take the point on the board; we’ve got Luton here on Tuesday and need to get that win, the quicker and the sooner the better.

“Cheltenham are fighting for their lives, so it was always going to be a tough game. The goal took a bit of stuffing out of us, but we rallied well.

“We scored through a great header by Miles, but couldn’t capitalise on it. Now we need to keep going.”

Cheltenham packed their midfield and made things difficult for County, something Hatswell admits the Exiles are struggling to deal with at the moment.

“Teams are coming here and playing 4-5-1 and make it very difficult for us, but we need to find a way to do better,” he said.

“We have won eight times at home, we’ve had a bad run at home, teams are making it difficult for us and we’ve got to stop going behind and conceding the first goal.”

The Exiles will surely now see their season defined by back-to-back games against sides above them in the race for the play-off spots, Luton Town on Tuesday and a visit to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.

“Our next two games are against sides above ourselves in the table, so it puts us in a good position if we beat them and we’ve still got Bury to play at home as well, the teams in and around us,” Hatswell said.

“It might come down to those games, we want it to be in our hands and a lot of teams are fighting, there aren’t easy games and we’ve got to battle until the end of the season.”

It was a credit to County’s supporters that they stuck with the side throughout an appalling first half display, the Robins deservedly ahead through a calamitous goal, Kevin Feely stranding goalkeeper Joe Day and providing on-loan Wales U21 international Wes Burns a tap-in in the 13th minute on Friday the 13th. So much for that luck the Irish are so famed for.

Only poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept County in the contest as they continue to struggle playing 4-4-2 at home, but with no signs to suggest it was coming, they equalised with a fine goal when Miles Storey looped a header over Trevor Carson from Ryan Jackson’s centre on 38 minutes. Cheltenham must have wondered how on earth they went in level at half time.

The Exiles looked the more likely side to win it in the second period, but injury absentee Robbie Willmott was missed as the Exiles again lacked guile in the final third, though Rene Howe’s late cameo appearance was somewhat encouraging, County’s number nine providing a couple of late chances, though Storey being taken off injured was far less positive.

And after playing their part on Friday, Hatswell believes the amber army can make a big difference for Jimmy Dack’s men in the remainder of the season.

“The crowd were brilliant, Dacky and I said that, we do need them, as hard as it can be for them when we are giving the ball away and not at our best, but League Two is a tough environment after all. We need the fans like that until the end of the season,” he said.

“That’s what I expect from them, we want this to be a horrible place to come again for the opposition and the crowd make a real difference for us.”

That may well be the case. But the Exiles also need to vastly improve their performance levels to have any chance of remaining in the hunt for League One football, starting with the visit of Luton.

County: Day, Jackson, Tutonda (Sandell 49), Feely, Jones, Minshull, Chapman (Flynn 83), Byrne, Klukowski, O’Connor, Storey (Howe 76)

Subs not used: Stephens, Porter, Jeffers, Poole

Booked: Flynn

Cheltenham: Carson, Mills, Haynes, Sparrow (Wynter 77), Burns, Braham-Barrett, Harrad (Manset 58), Brown, Packwood, Berry, M Richards

Subs not used: Gould, Vaughan, Taylor, Hanks, E Richards

Booked: Mills

Referee: Wayne Barrett (Coventry)

Attendance: 2951

Argus star man: Miles Storey