MARK O’Brien believes Newport County AFC are over their dip in form and ready to push up the League Two table during the busy Christmas period.

County ended their six-game winless league run with a 1-0 victory at Swindon Town a fortnight ago and last weekend beat Cambridge United 2-0 in the FA Cup.

And they host 14th-placed Carlisle United at Rodney Parade this afternoon looking for another three points to keep pace with their fellow play-off contenders.

O’Brien has been encouraged by the last two performances and results and he insists the points they picked up in draws with Mansfield Town, Port Vale and Accrington Stanley will prove valuable.

“I know that we had a slight dip in performance,” admitted the defender.

“But you look back at some of the points that we picked up, when we conceded late on and we were devastated, they were still good performances and they were points on the board at the end of the day.

“Over the last couple of weeks we’ve started picking up a bit of form again with a few wins and you look back on that period and think at least we still picked up some points during that bad dip.

“We’re hoping now that we’re just going push on, pick up more wins and make these home games count.

“Coming into the Christmas period you want to be in good form because you want to be there or thereabouts in the New Year.

“The last two weeks we’ve been in good form and hopefully we can carry that on, keep everyone fit and give it a good push over Christmas.”

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Manager Michael Flynn is preparing to add to his squad in January and O’Brien says the players will welcome reinforcements.

“In this league you need a big squad and lots of people around,” said the 25-year-old Dubliner.

“The manager has done well in the recruitment in the off-season so we have trust in him to bring in the right people.

“He knows what we need more than anything and anyone who comes in is always welcome.

“It’s always going to be an addition to the squad, just adding to what we’ve already got here.

“I’m sure that he’s probably spoken to Labs [captain Joss Labadie] and people like that about who he might bring in but I think as a team we’re really close-knit.

“If there are any rumours we know about them but, at the same time, everyone gets on with their own jobs and we know what’s expected of us.

“It’s always good to have a bit of competition because if people are ready to come in then you know you’re going to have to step up your game.

“There’s people knocking at the door and ready to take your post.

“It’s healthy competition and it helps push the squad on even further.”