NEWPORT will attempt to get back to winning ways when they travel to the Old Parish ground to face Maesteg tonight in a Konica-Minolta Cup quarter-final rehearsal (kick off 7.15pm).

The Black and Ambers suffered their first defeat in four games when they fell to high-flying Bridgend in the Welsh Premier Division at the Brewery Field last Saturday.

They had headed into the game on the back of three wins in eight days, but shipped five tries in the 34-10 defeat and lost vice-captain Matthew Veater for the season with a fractured eye socket.

Coach David Rees is away with the Wales sevens team in Melbourne so forwards coach Sven Cronk will be at the helm for tonight's game, and he is urging his players to use Saturday's disappointment as motivation.

He said: "The old saying goes that you are only as good as your last game and that is true. I'm sure the boys will be wanting to put things right and get the Bridgend game out of their system.

"We know how important it is to come back from the disappointment of Saturday and it's good to have the chance to strike back so soon.

"I think Saturday was a knock-on effect from having three tough games in a week. We are down to the bare bones again, so it's a case of letting the team have a gentle build-up to this game by keeping them off the field."

They face a Maesteg side high on confidence after recording a battling victory over Cross Keys on Saturday. It continued their recovery from a troubled start to the season, including a 23-14 defeat by Newport in October after being promoted to the Premier Division.

Cronk said: "It's a tough place to go, I've played there many times before and it's hard, league or cup.

"They have got a useful pack and I'm sure they will give us a warm welcome.

"We need to get good position from the half-backs and we need to keep the ball. It's a case of getting the mindset right and doing the simple things correctly.

"But I don't think confidence is a problem. There was a big turnaround after the performance at Neath and they realised they can play and are good enough at this level."

As well as missing Veater, Newport are without full back Ricky Williams with a pulled groin and centre James Rowles, who played with a dead leg for 50 minutes at Bridgend. Newport Gwent Dragons player Sione Tuipulotu starts at full-back.

Newport: S Tuipulotu, J Taylor, R Payne, G Chapman, W Kershaw-Naylor, D Griffiths, M Thomas, D Pattison, A Brown, G Robinson, M Workman, N Watkins, R Dale, P Williams, R Jones. Replacements: G Crothers, A Tackel/R Fussell, I Evans, L Jones, C Powell, S Waldron, M Popham.