TALENTED Newport County midfielder Gareth Phillips will return to the side for tomorrow's home game against Dorchester Town as will central defender Scott Morgan if he passes a pre-match fitness test.

However County are unable to call on a trio of regulars - skipper and left back Gary Lloyd, central defender Jeff Eckhardt and club top goalscorer Garry Shephard.

Morgan has been missing since injuring a knee close to the end of the 5-1 away league win over Worcester City on November 1, Eckhardt must serve a one-game suspension, Lloyd the second of a three-match ban while Shephard is out for at least two more weeks following recent surgery to knee ligaments.

If Morgan fails to recover in time, Nicholas is likely to ask midfielder Andrew Mumford, County's scorer in Wednesday's 1-1 home FAW Premier Cup draw against Connah's Quay Nomads, to drop back to stand in for Eckhardt.

Phillips was stood down from the game against the Nomads because of a family illness and if Mumford is asked to play at the back, he will slot into the vacant slot in the middle of the field while Lloyd's place will again go to Steve Williams.

"We should be OK to cope, although Dorchester will offer us a stern test," said Nicholas, whose side have won six, drawn one and lost just another in their past eight outings.

"They've done quite well this season and I had them watched last week when they won 3-1 at home against Chippenham Town."

With County having picked up more points on their travels this season, Nicholas has appealed for fans to be patients during home games:"We have to take the game to the opposition at home and because we can't score goals every time we attack, fans must be patient, " continued Nicholas.

"We've had a good couple of weeks and have scored five goals in two of our games.

Confidence is high, but no two matches are the same and we'll have to word hard against Dorchester to get a positive result."

County squad: D Roberts, T Evans, S Williams, N Davies, A Mumford, A Thomas, G Phillips, G Jones, N Davies, J Phillips, C Rogers, A Stevenson, R Plant, S O'Sullivan, G Wesson (g/k), S Morgan, L Stone.

Kick-off 1.30pm