NEWPORT County AFC have gone more than five hours without a goal in League Two, but midfielder Dale Gorman believes the floodgates will open once the drought ends.

The 0-0 draw with Walsall on Tuesday marked Leyton Orient loan signing Gorman’s first start for the Exiles, who endured another frustrating 90 minutes at Rodney Parade.

Joss Labadie was the last County player to find the back of the net in the league when his 34th-minute strike against Macclesfield Town on January 28 proved to be a match-winner.

The midweek stalemate dealt a further blow to the Welsh club’s hopes of making the play-offs, with Michael Flynn’s men now 11 points adrift with 16 games left.

Saturday sees County travel to Mansfield Town (kick-off 3pm), a club they have an unenviable away record against since a team from Newport first went to Nottinghamshire 87 years ago.

In fact, it is just one win for the visitors in 15 regular season fixtures.

Not taking into consideration last term’s penalty shootout triumph in the play-off semi-finals, County are on a run of nine straight losses at Field Mill.

But new signing Gorman believes that if they can score this weekend then the goals will flow.

Speaking after the Walsall clash, he said: “It was a good reaction from Saturday (when County were beaten 1-0 by Cambridge United).

“We were disappointed with that performance as a team and I thought we responded very well.

“But we’re disappointed not to get the win. We couldn’t get the ball across the line. It’s just one of those things at the minute.

“Once one goes in, I think they’ll start flowing. We’re creating good chances and we’re quite happy with our performance as a team.

“It’s a tough one. You can’t just blame the strikers or the attacking players – we’re all in it together.”

He added: “If we play like that against Mansfield, I’m confident we can get something.

“If you play like that against most teams in this league, you will pick up points.

“And if we can keep putting in performances like that, there’s no doubt we will get results and start climbing that table.

“We’re going to get to work and see what we can improve on.

“There are lots of points to play for and we’ve got games in hand as well, and it’s about concentrating on the next game and putting pressure on the teams above us.”

While he may not have got the result he wanted, Gorman’s first start in Exiles colours was an impressive one.

“I’ve had to be patient and I’ve been working hard behind the scenes to try to get my fitness up,” he said.

“That’s my first game in two months and I was happy to play. I thought I did alright. I did my job well and I’m quite happy.

“It’s good to have competition. You don’t like being somewhere where you’re comfy and you know you’re going to play all the time.

“With the quality we’ve got in midfield, it can only help you when you’re playing against each other in training every day.”