NEWPORT County AFC defender Mickey Demetriou insists there is still plenty of confidence in the squad and he’s certain that they can recover from a “dip” in League Two.

County take on MK Dons in the Leasing.com Trophy at Rodney Parade tonight before focusing on climbing the league table, starting at Scunthorpe United on Saturday.

Scunthorpe were the last team that the Exiles beat in League Two – on October 19 – and a 10-game winless run has seen them drop to 15th in the table, albeit with three games in hand over many sides.

“It’s been a difficult spell in the league but the confidence is still there in the team,” said Demetriou.

“Training has been good for the last few weeks but we’ve just not had the rub of the green in the league.

“At the moment we’re two unbeaten [in the league] and hopefully we can keep that momentum going.

“I’ve been here for three years, nearly, and there have been lots of highs,” he added.

“Hopefully we can create some more, but we always go through some kind of a dip and we always find a way out of it.”

South Wales Argus:

Tonight’s tie could see the return of Kyle Howkins (above), who has been sidelined since suffering a broken cheekbone in the FA Cup win at Maldon & Tiptree in November.

“It always helps when a few more bodies come back off the injury list,” said Demetriou, who returned from a broken leg last month.

“Obviously, I was there for a long time and I’m slowly getting back to it.

“And with them available again it helps because we couldn’t fill the bench [on New Year’s Day].

“I don’t think we’ve had a full squad yet this season.”

Manager Michael Flynn is pleased to have Howkins available again.

“It looked like an awful injury and we thought it was going to be a lot worse,” he said. “It was still a bad injury but, thankfully, he’s come through it and he’s raring to go.”

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