NEWPORT County AFC striker Padraig Amond believes history can repeat itself as manager Michael Flynn looks to strengthen the squad this month to reinvigorate the Exiles’ faltering promotion hopes.

County are on a 10-game winless run in League Two and fell to 15th in the table as they were knocked out of the FA Cup at Millwall on Saturday.

The Exiles are now 11 points off the top seven, but they do now have three games in hand on many of the teams above them.

And Amond is convinced that the right recruits this month can inspire a revival in the second half of the season – just like last year when the January signings of Regan Poole, Ben Kennedy, Harry McKirdy and Ade Azeez helped Flynn’s men reach the play-off final.

“OB (Mark O’Brien) was back [on Saturday], Kyle [Howkins] is not far away and Mickey [Demetriou] has looked really strong over the last couple of weeks and we’ve got Corey [Whitely] back as well now,” said the Exiles’ top scorer.

“The squad is getting stronger and I’m sure the gaffer is going to strengthen as well.

“Hopefully, the new players who come in – whoever they may be – can make an impact and put us on a bit of a run.

“That’s what happened last year and who knows what we can do between now and the end of the season?

“We proved last year that it only takes one or two results to go your way to get a bit of a run going and then you feel invincible when you go out onto the pitch.

“We have a lot of games to catch up on in the league now and it’s a big opportunity for us over the next few weeks. We want to make sure we’re looking up the table, rather than behind us.

“We want to have something to play for between now and the end of the season.”

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And Amond is certain that County will climb the table if they can replicate Saturday’s performance at The Den, despite the eventual 3-0 defeat.

“The FA Cup has been brilliant for us as over the last couple of years,” he said. “For a club like ourselves to reach the third round three years running is great.

“And we played well. If we play like that in the majority of the league games, we’ll get better results. We’ll win a lot more games than we lose, playing like that.

“We just need to be a little more clinical in both boxes – cut out the silly mistakes [at the back] and give the defenders a bit of a breather by taking our chances.”

Amond will hope to make amends for the gilt-edged opportunity he wasted in the second half on Saturday when County host League One MK Dons in the Leasing.com Trophy tonight (kick-off 7.30pm).

“We’ll dust ourselves down and get ready to go again,” he said.

“Hopefully we get a good result against MK Dons and get ourselves into the draw for the next round.”

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