NEWPORT County AFC manager Justin Edinburgh says the club’s preparations for life in League Two are ahead of schedule after an ultra-competitive match in Germany.

County earned a 2-2 draw against Carl Zeiss Jena on Saturday in a match that could barely be described as a friendly.

Goals from Byron Anthony and Aaron O’Connor saw the Exiles maintain their unbeaten start to pre-season but the match was marred by a mini-brawl in the first half.

Tempers were raised when new signing Adam Chapman was on the receiving end of what Edinburgh described as a ‘career-threatening’ tackle from Jena player Andis Shala.

Chapman escaped with only superficial injuries and will be available for tonight’s friendly at Taunton Town.

And Edinburgh believes that the competitive nature of the match in Weimar will benefit his squad as they build up to the League Two opener against Accrington Stanley at Rodney Parade on August 3.

"The whole trip was a very good experience," said the Exiles boss.

"The training facilities were excellent and the match itself was very competitive, to say the least!

"There was one outrageous tackle on Adam Chapman that really aggravated my players, and rightly so.

"It was a potentially career-threatening tackle and Adam is lucky that he got away with stud marks on his legs.

"The player got a yellow card but he should really have been asked to leave the pitch. "Generally it was more competitive than we expected," he added.

“It probably came a bit early in pre-season but it raised our game a bit and will probably help us over the next few weeks."

Edinburgh was particularly pleased with the performance of Robbie Willmott at right wing-back in Germany.

“Robbie has a lot of ability and can play all over the park so we thought we’d try him there,” he said.

"He was probably our man of the match so that was pleasing and we’ll continue to assess that position.

"We are still looking at Jamie Edge and Ryan Doble as well and if there are other players out there who we feel will improve the squad we will make a move."

Triallists Edge and Doble are likely to feature at Taunton tonight and captain David Pipe is available again after missing the trip to Jena.

Ismail Yakubu could also make his first appearance of pre-season tonight but goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley is still sidelined by illness.

Max Porter is not yet ready to feature after suffering a slight thigh strain. He could return to action at Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday.