NEWPORT County AFC travel to Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup first round tonight (kick-off 7.45pm) nearly 50 years since the sides last faced each other.

On that occasion, at Somerton Park in early September 1972, it was the Suffolk outfit that eased to a 3-0 win in the second round of the same competition.

County go into the encounter at Portman Road today a season on from their best run in the history of the tournament.

Last time out they reached round four courtesy of wins over Swansea City, Cambridge United and Watford, before losing on penalties to Newcastle United.

And defender Mickey Demetriou, the Exiles’ vice-captain this season, says County will be looking to back up the opening day win against Oldham Athletic by seeing off the Tractor Boys and reaching the second round.

“We can try and build on the performance from Saturday against a very good side in Ipswich,” he told the club’s official website.

“I’m sure the gaffer may make some changes going into it. We’ve got a lot of games coming up and we’ve got so many players that can go out and play.

“Last year we were very successful in this competition and it brought a bit of money into the football club so hopefully we can go there and do well once again.

“We’re unfortunate not to be in the same league as them this year, but we need to test ourselves against these sorts of teams because we want to be in that league.”

Demetriou could continue as skipper tonight after taking the armband from captain Matty Dolan on Saturday following an injury to the midfielder.

Demetriou, who is now into his sixth season at the club, helped guide County to maximum points in Greater Manchester, but says it was a bittersweet moment when he took over as captain.

“I think the most important thing was three points and the clean sheet was a bonus,” he said.

“I think it was the first time we’ve won an opening game since 2013, so it’s obviously nice to get that off our backs and hopefully we can try and build on it in our next performance.

“I would’ve rather not have the armband because it would have meant that Matty wouldn’t have gone off injured, but hopefully he won’t be out very long so I’ll just be keeping it warm for him.”

He continued: “The gaffer pulled us both for a chat the other week and said that we’re making you vice-captain and captain and it’s an honour.

“Like Matty said, we worked hard for the last four-and-a-half years at this football club and hopefully we can carry on doing that in more of a leadership role.”

And on the return of the fans, he added: “It was great to see the fans.

“You saw the pictures that went around on social media of when Kev scored the winner, but if we had done that at the other end in front of the Oldham fans it wouldn’t have been the same.

“To celebrate with them and for them after the long journey they all made was fantastic and hopefully we came to cheer about on Tuesday again.”

Ipswich started their League One campaign last weekend with a 2-2 draw against promoted Morecambe.