NEWPORT County boss Dean Holdsworth has a new ally in his bid to take the Exiles to the promised land of the Conference – Swansea City boss Paulo Sousa.

The Blue Square South manager of the month boosted his table-toppers further yesterday by adding a second Swansea youngster to his ranks, 18-year-old winger Casey Thomas, who has joined on a one-month loan deal with a view to a longer stay.

He joins fellow attacker Kerry Morgan, 19, another Swans academy graduate, who will be with County for three months, signing alongside permanent recruits Alton Thelwell and Ashan Holgate as Holdsworth looks to bolster his squad following his side’s shock FA Cup exit at Paulton Rovers.

With County flying high they are now a far more attractive option to youngsters from the Liberty Stadium and following long talks with Sousa, Holdsworth is delighted to have secured two highly-rated teens, with the possibility of more to follow.

He explained: "Both (general manager) Tim Harris and I have been in contact with Paulo Sousa and (assistant boss) Alan Curtis and we’ve spoken with them at length.

“Tim and I believe it’s vital to be building bridges with Football League clubs, because they obviously have good pools of quality players.

"The two boys coming here have a real appetite to do well. They want to make their mark and to show why they’re at Swansea, because they’ve both got undoubted abilities.

"We thank Swansea for helping us to bring them here, we believe it will be a mutually beneficial move and having seen them in training, we’re impressed so far.

"Young boys like Kerry and Casey tend to be a bit fearless, they’ve got nothing to lose here and we believe they can really benefit us. It’s possible that they won’t be the last players at a similar stage of their career to help us this term.”

Holdsworth’s busy transfer activity was prompted by the Paulton result, though he admits he’s felt for a few weeks that his squad needed some tinkering.

"I looked at our bench last week and felt like we needed some fresh faces, we want to be in a position where our opponents will fear all of our substitutes and we’ve moved a lot closer to that.

"We’re looking for a reaction from the players to the bad result.

“Training has been impressive this week, the intensity has been extremely high and we want to translate that onto the field."

The Exiles take a bumper squad to St Albans today, even though long-term knee victim Takumi Ake and short-term knee victim Nathan Davies are unavailable.

Defender Gary Warren, still suffering with a hamstring strain, is rated 50/50 with Alton Thelwell standing by to make his full debut if he doesn’t make it, which will mean skipper Aaron Cook switching to left-back, with Martyn Giles suspended.

Swansea duo Morgan and Thomas and fellow new recruit Ashan Holgate are likely to be among the substitutes.

County (Argus predicted line-up): Thompson, Bignot, Cook, Cochlin, Thelwell/Warren, Henry, Rose, Rogers, Turk, Foley, Reid. Subs (from): Blackburn, Smith, Colborne, Holgate, Morgan, Thomas