THIS is my last column before Christmas so I’d like to wish all County fans a fabulous festive season and hopefully we can deliver plenty of points to ensure it’s a good one.

Today’s game at Luton will obviously be a big challenge as we lost 4-2 in the FA Cup at Kenilworth Road last month.

But with the form we’re in we go there confident that we can give anyone a game and we’re certainly not intimidated by Luton.

You don’t go nine games unbeaten in League Two without building up a bit of confidence and the results we’ve been getting of late have put us in high spirits.

Obviously we suffered a couple of big blows this week, however.

First we got the news that Aaron O’Connor’s three-match ban will stand following his red card against Stevenage last week.

Azza works very hard for the team but he will be the first to admit that he let himself down with that challenge right at the end of the game.

There was no need for him to put himself in that position and it will hurt us even more because he’s on a great scoring run at the moment.

But it will give Shaun Jeffers a chance to get a run in the side. I thought he was excellent against Stevenage and he can only benefit from getting a few starts under his belt.

We’ve also got Chris Zebroski back from his ban today and Danny Crow and Rene Howe returning from injury so there is the talent there to fill Aaron’s boots over the next week or so.

A much bigger blow was the injury to Andrew Hughes, which he also picked up against Stevenage.

That victory has proved to be very costly for us and I’m just gutted for Hughesy.

He’s been one of our best players this season and I know clubs were looking at him with a view to making a move in January.

To get the news that he could be out for up to a year is devastating for him and for us.

We all know how serious anterior cruciate ligament injuries are and they have ruined many a career.

But Hughesy is a great athlete. He’s in unbelievable shape and the fact that he’s so young and strong means I’m pretty confident that he’ll be back and hopefully a lot sooner than the end of next year.

With Curtis Obeng also returning to Swansea and Kevin Feely still sidelined it leaves us a bit thin on the ground at the back.

I’m sure that will mean that young Regan Poole will be in with a shout of playing some part this afternoon.

He showed at Shrewsbury that he’s not overawed by tough away games and I’m sure he won’t let anyone down if he’s called upon today.

He’s being fast-tracked into becoming a pro and he’s loving training with the first team on a regular basis.

It means we see a lot less of him with the academy boys but that’s great for him and his progress makes me very proud.

The under-18s had a very good 3-2 win against Cheltenham on Tuesday when Aaron Collins was the standout player, scoring one of the best goals I’ve seen this season.

That sets them up well for this morning’s home clash with Bristol Rovers.

Everyone enjoys a local derby and we beat them down there on the opening day of the season so hopefully the boys can complete the double today.

I won’t be there as I’m back to something like full fitness now and I’m expecting to be involved at Kenilworth Road.

The FA Cup match down there in November was my last game before the injury so I’m raring to go.

I’ve been doing some extra fitness work with the guys down at St Joseph’s gym in Newport this week and I’d like to thank Junior Borg in particular.

I was joined in the gym by Aaron, Regan, Tom Owen-Evans, Lewis Bamford and my old mate Darcy Blake as well.

Darcy is still without a club and is looking for a way back into football right now. He’s putting himself through it in the gym and training with the squad so hopefully we’ll see him back on a pitch in 2015 in an amber shirt.

It’s been a busy week as the players also visited some unfortunate kids in the Royal Gwent Hospital on Tuesday.

It’s always nice to put a smile on their faces and I also wanted to say thanks to Jimmy Bullard for putting smiles on a lot of faces with his hilarious celebrity jungle tales last Saturday.

He was on great form and the event raised a lot of money for Newport Corries, who also donated £1,000 to the County academy so everyone was a winner.