NEWPORT County caretaker manager Glyn Jones is confident his side can win on today's trip to Chippenham Town in the FA Cup, but they'll once again be without star man Jason Bowen.

Bowen, who is assisting Jones while the Newport board search for a new manager, has been out of action with a knee injury since August and is close to a return, but today's game has come too soon for him.

"I've had good news from the specialist who tells me that I have a bit of bruising on the bone and some slight ligament damage, but nothing is seriously wrong," said Bowen.

"All being well I will be back in training next week and in contention to play next weekend, but unfortunately I won't be involved on the pitch today."

Jones is also sweating on the fitness of former Spurs defender Ian Hillier, who will have a late test on an ankle injury sustained against Histon on September 4. Ashley Williams will again deputise if he doesn't make it.

But despite his injury concerns, Jones is confident that County can win the match.

He explained: "People might consider Chippenham to be slight favourites in this game because they are flying high in the league below us and we are struggling, but we're not looking at it like that.

"We've had a productive week, last week we only trained together once but we've had three good sessions this week and we know about Chippenham, how they like to play and how to stop them doing it.

"It's a difficult tie for us, but we're all confident we can produce the goods."

Bowen is also confident that County can take the spoils, but admits they might need a bit of luck, something that has been in short supply for the Spytty Park outfit in recent weeks.

"We are really keen to have a good cup run because getting to the first round could mean drawing a league club and that could be massive for us and the supporters.

"We know that we can go to Chippenham and win, but it wouldn't hurt if a bit of luck went our way, we've lost so many games this season by the odd goal and have had a lot of misfortune with injuries, so maybe we're due some luck.

"Over the years I've been involved in a fair few FA Cup campaigns and generally it seems that with two closely matched sides, the result tends to come down to who wants it more and who has the confidence to play their own game. We need to make sure we're the team who do that.

"Cup competitions always throw up surprises, just look at Man City and Spurs this week, it is a time when people stand up and make themselves a hero. Hopefully one of our players can do that today."

County (from) Vaughan, Hillier, Williams, Reece, Davies, D Jones, Thomas, S O'Sullivan, Green, Belle, Corbisiero, W O'Sullivan, Brimfield, Draycott, Evans, Blackburn, Curran.