Newport a 'strong force' for critical Oldham game - Fuchs

When Newport County last faced Oldham Athletic, it marked the beginning of Christian Fuchs' reign as Exiles boss. Bottom of the League Two table, four points from safety and winless in three, Fuchs was given a reminder of just how difficult a task he faced as Oldham ran out 3-0 winners last November against a depleted Exiles side that looked destined for the drop. Now, in his final home game of the season, Fuchs has the chance to turn that painful first chapter into a story of survival against the same opponents who inflicted his first managerial defeat.

Victory for Newport on Saturday (15:00 BST) , coupled with defeats for both Barrow at Cambridge United and Harrogate Town at Walsall the same afternoon, would mathematically secure their Football League status. It would be an achievement Fuchs - a Premier League champion with Leicester City as a player - has already said would rank among the proudest of his career. But the 40-year-old former Austrian defender is not getting side-tracked by the fairytale-like symmetry that securing survival against the side he first faced would bring.

"It's stories that football tells us, but we're not in a make-a-wish foundation here," said Fuchs. Newport will 'give everything' with two matches to go Newport boss Christian Fuchs will be seeking revenge against Oldham who inflicted his first managerial defeat back in November [Huw Evans Picture Agency] There were moments this season when survival would have felt close to miraculous. Newport have spent large portions of the campaign stuck inside the relegation zone, only climbing out for the first time nine games ago.

Sitting one point and one place above the drop with two matches remaining represents real progress from County's dismal start under David Hughes. "I don't think we're in a situation where we need to look for a Great Escape," Fuchs said when asked to compare this run-in to the famous 2016-17 survival act under former boss Michael Flynn. "We have everything in our own hands, and we are above the drop zone.