BEN Tozer fears that the injury to captain Joss Labadie could be a bigger blow to Newport County AFC than Tuesday’s defeat to Colchester United.

Tozer, Labadie and Matty Dolan have formed an effective midfield trio for County in the past few weeks in impressive victories over Yeovil Town and Forest Green Rovers.

But Labadie was forced off with a hamstring injury after just 15 minutes on Tuesday before Colchester went on to claim a 2-1 win at Rodney Parade.

The skipper looks set to miss Saturday’s home clash with Mansfield Town and he could be sidelined for a number of weeks.

“It is a blow, especially the way that us three have been playing in the middle,” said Tozer.

“We’ve gelled well and got on well but every team is going to have injuries throughout the season.

“Fingers crossed it’s not as bad as it seemed. Sometimes it works that way and it may just have been a bit of fatigue.”

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Tozer says the Exiles were frustrated not to have taken at least a point against the U’s but he expects the team to bounce back quickly.

“We’re disappointed because we had two clear-cut chances before they scored their first goal,” said the 27-year-old, who was named sponsors’ and supporters' man of the match on Tuesday.

“Labs had a chance in the first minute as well and 90 per cent of the time if you score first in the league then you go on to win the game.

“Unfortunately we didn’t do that but I suppose it’s better to lose positively, creating chances, rather than creating nothing at all.

“And we can’t dwell on it because if you dwell on a defeat or a victory then it’s going to bite you on the bottom.

“We just have to regroup and go again now.

“With the budget that Mansfield have got they have backed the manager big style so they’ll be expecting to be right up there.

“But any game is winnable and we’ll go for that win.”

South Wales Argus:

County remain sixth in the League Two table and Tozer (above) is certain that they can keep pace with the other play-off contenders.

“At the moment when we win the teams around us win and when we lose they lose,” he said.

“We’ve just got to keep chasing down the pack above and trying to get away from the pack behind and we’ll try to do that again on Saturday.

“You could tell by the way that Colchester reacted that it was kind of a scalp for them and that’s testament to how well we’ve been doing,” he added.

“They had a bit more fight than I expected but anyone can beat anyone in this league.

“Forest Green beat Coventry so what does that say about this league?”