midfielder maestro Nathan Davies has been back pulling the strings for Newport County lately but the 22 year-old Wales semi-pro international insists there is much more to come.

Davies was injured after an hour of Cornforth's first game in charge at Corsham last October and had to sit out three months of the season, but with seven games under his belt since the lay-off, he now feels as though he is finally getting back to his old self.

"I have not been playing near my best yet," explained Davies.

"But I am getting there. I am still struggling a bit with the ankle injury but it is getting better and stronger each week.

"The gaffer has not had the chance to see what I am like when fully fit but I think that I have improved a bit each week.

"I still don't really know what the problem was with the ligaments but I am going for a scan in a couple of weeks and hopefully that will clear things up."

Most of the plaudits for last week's 0-0 draw at Grays went to the defence but the fact that the league-leaders' star man Stuart Thurgood could not get a foothold on the game was thanks largely to Davies.

"We had to work really hard and keep our shape," he said. "I thought we did well and everything that the gaffer told us to."

Davies is expecting a similar test today as County take on Eastbourne Borough at Spytty Park (kick-off 3pm).

"There are doing well and it might be a bit like the Grays game," he said. "But we have done okay recently and keep going out to win.

"We seem to do well against the good teams and struggle against the lower ones.

"We don't really talk about relegation in the dressing room, we just concentrate on wining the next game.

"The team spirit is excellent and we are all in it together."

County had hoped to bring the fixture forward to a 2pm kick-off to avoid conflicting with the 4pm France v Wales 6 Nations clash but visitors Eastbourne declined.

"We wanted to give the fans the chance to watch the Wales game but Eastbourne were not too keen," explained general manager Wallace Brown, "but it is a long way for them to come for an early kick-off, so we can see their point."

Today's Nationwide South Fixtures: Basingstoke v St Albans, Dorchester v Hornchurch, Lewes v Cambridge City ( Postponed ), Maidenhead Utd v Hayes, Redbridge v Carshalton Ath, Sutton Utd v Weymouth, Welling v Havant and W, Weston-S-Mare v Margate.