DEFENDER Dan Butler says Newport County AFC must be ready to get down and dirty at Huish Park today (kick-off 3pm) before playing the football that they hope will result in a timely three points.

The Exiles start this afternoon’s clash with Yeovil Town in real need of a win to reignite their play-off dream.

Victories have been hard to come by in recent weeks for left-back Butler and his teammates – Tuesday’s 3-3 draw with Forest Green Rovers took their winless run in the league to 12 matches.

Rewind 12 months and the Exiles were fighting for their lives at the bottom of League Two.

They head to Somerset this time around in the much healthier position of 14th, whereas the Glovers are involved in a battle to beat the drop.

Yeovil, who crashed out of the Checkatrade Trophy this week, lie eight points above the danger zone with a dozen games remaining, desperate to secure their Football League status as soon as possible.

“We were in (Yeovil’s) position last year and I’m almost certain that nobody wanted to play against us,” Butler told iFollow Exiles.

“A team that’s fighting for their life is dangerous and we need to go there focused, ready to battle, and then just play our football which will hopefully win the game.”

He continued: “It’s a completely different time of the season now (compared to when County won the reverse fixture 2-0 back in October).

“They probably have a lot of different players and have worked on what was letting them down at the start of the season.

“They will know a lot more about us now, so I expect them to have a game plan to try and beat us.

“Hopefully we’ll have a better game plan to beat them.

“If they won (on Tuesday) or if they lost, Saturday was always going to be a tough game anyway, especially if we don’t turn up and give it our all.

“If we do turn up and do everything we can to win the game then I’m sure we will.”

Butler had the misfortune of putting the ball into his own net on Tuesday, as County had to settle for a share of the spoils despite a Paul Hayes hat-trick.

It appeared that Butler had cancelled out his opener for the visitors but Hayes was adamant he got the final touch.

Butler insisted he was happy to let Hayes take the credit and paid tribute to the experienced striker, who was making his first start in County colours.

“I played against Hayesy a lot when he was at Wycombe Wanderers and especially in this league,” he said.

“He is a very good player. You saw that (on Tuesday), he was unplayable at times, and we really did look a different side when he was on the pitch.

“Obviously he had to go off for whatever reason, but I think you could see that he has got something different about him.

“He has been in professional football for nearly 15 years now and we benefitted with him on the pitch.

“If you speak to any defenders in the Championship who have played against him, or in League One and League Two, they will all say that they don’t like playing against Paul Hayes.

“In training, he’s not very nice to play against. He can put the ball in the back of the net and that’s the main thing really.”