Scot Bennett wants Newport County fans to be the 12th man against Oldham Athletic

Bennett scored the only goal on Saturday as County beat champions Lincoln City 1-0 at Rodney Parade to stay within two points of seventh-placed Exeter City with a game in hand.

Another home win tonight against Oldham Athletic will see the Exiles jump from 11th to seventh and put them in the driving seat to seal a play-off spot in the final game at Morecambe this coming Saturday.

And Bennett believes a raucous Rodney Parade crowd will help the team secure the victory they need.

Speaking to iFollow Exiles, the 28-year-old said: “The fans are always brilliant and they sing all the way through, whether we’re winning or losing.

“They’re like the 12th man, we need them to sing and we need them to get behind us and push us forward. Sometimes that’s what you need, and that little push helps.”

That support certainly helped at the weekend as County surged into an early lead thanks to Bennett’s second goal of the season and then defended superbly to earn a sixth clean sheet in their last eight games.

“There was a lot of talk about Lincoln maybe changing things but we knew with the professionalism they’ve got that they weren’t going to change much,” said the midfielder.

“They went with a very strong side and we had to put up a very tough, battling performance.

“They’ve won the league for a reason, they’re good at what they do when they put the balls up to the two big, strong strikers.

“You have to deal with that threat then win the second balls as well alongside trying to play your own game.

“It’s a very pleasing performance and we’re glad to get the three points.”

County are now unbeaten in eight games and full of confidence, but Bennett insists they are focused on finishing the job.

“We’re all buzzing to get the three points,” he said. “It’s a massive three points and the confidence is on a real high.

“In the last eight games, we’ve gone on a real good run.

“But we’ve got two games to go and we know we’ve still got to win two games.

“We move onto Tuesday now with the same attitude as this one.”

Oldham cannot make the play-offs after their 1-0 defeat at Exeter on Saturday, but Bennett is expecting them to put up a fight.

“Oldham won’t be coming here and being on the beach as you’d say,” added the former Exeter man.

“I think they’ve changed quite a lot since we played them up there [when the Exiles won 1-0 at Boundary Park in September].

“They’ve changed managers a few times but they’re a good footballing team.

“We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves really. They are a good side but if we do what we can do then we’re good enough to beat anyone on our day.”

Bennett also revealed that his goal against Lincoln, his second of the season, came after some light-hearted criticism of his finishing during the 0-0 draw at Macclesfield Town on Easter Monday.

“I took a bit of stick after the Macclesfield game because I had a few chances and one in particular that I should have done a bit better with,” he explained.

“That was all part of the banter but it’s nice to prove him [the gaffer] wrong and get on the scoresheet.

“Everyone needs to chip in because we can’t always rely on the likes of Jamma [Jamille Matt] and Podge [Padraig Amond].

“It’s nice to break the duck, it’s been a while so that’s important but we’re just concentrating on trying to win matches.”

County season ticket holders can bring a friend for free to the Oldham game.

The offer is only open to 2018-2019 season ticket holders, who can redeem a free ticket of any age category in the same stand as themselves.

These complimentary tickets can be collected from the Kingsway club shop in person upon presentation of your 2018-2019 season ticket.

Ticket redemption is available right up until kick-off tomorrow from the ticket office.

Read more: Two 'cup finals' to go as County close in on play-offs

Read more: We'll finish the job this week, vows Exiles boss Flynn