DAN Butler is a defender who likes to make his presence felt going forward but he knows that clean sheets are just as valuable as goals for Newport County AFC at the moment.

The Exiles, who go to Doncaster Rovers in Sky Bet League Two today (3pm), have had few problems finding the net this season – they just haven’t been able to keep them out at the other end.

Their only shutout to date came in a hard-fought 1-0 win at Leyton Orient, and summer recruit Butler, 22, is under no illusion about the task County face this afternoon.

Rovers have found the net 10 times in their last three league fixtures, though Butler feels that if the Exiles can keep a clean sheet they will win the game.

“Obviously we know it’s going to be tough, to go to Doncaster is never easy,” he said. “But we’re confident that we can go there and get a result.

“We’ve done fairly well away from home against big teams like Luton where obviously we were unlucky. We went to Leyton Orient and I’d say we put in a perfect away performance.

“Hopefully we can go to Doncaster and keep a clean sheet, and if we do we’ll definitely win because we’re not struggling to score at the moment.”

He added: “Everyone was very disappointed after the game last Saturday. It felt like we dropped two points. We played very well but, as everyone knows, we conceded two sloppy goals.

“We’ve been working hard all week to try and get that out of our game as a team, and hopefully on Saturday we can do that.”

Back in the Football League after a spell with Torquay, Butler set up Jon Parkin’s second goal in the 2-2 draw against Cheltenham last weekend.

He is a full-back who enjoys the attacking side of the game but understands that defending comes first.

“I enjoy getting forward, like most people do, but firstly I’ve got to defend,” he said.

“We’re not struggling to score at the moment, we’re struggling to keep clean sheets, so my main focus is to get a clean sheet and if I can chip in with an assist here or there then that’s obviously good.”

He continued: “We haven’t got as many good results as we would have wanted but I think the majority of the time the performances have been there.

“I feel like we’ve definitely got a good team here and everyone is working hard and working extremely well together to hopefully make something special happen this season.”