NEWPORT County captain Gary Warren knows he’s got a debt to repay as he returns to the side for tomorrow night’s crunch clash with promotion rivals Luton Town.

The skipper admits he let down the fans and his teammates by getting sent-off for retaliation against Tamworth last month when he struck Kyle Perry in the face.

The incident not only led to County going down to defeat in Dean Holdsworth’s last match in charge but also saw Warren suspended for four matches for his second red card of the season.

Since that match on January 11 the Exiles have lost top scorer Craig Reid as well as Holdsworth, been knocked out of the FA Trophy and dropped to eighth in the Blue Square Bet Premier League table.

"I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. It was stupid," said Warren.

"I just wanted to get on with the game and their guy was stopping us doing that by blocking Glyn Thompson’s kick.

"But there are no excuses. I’m the captain and I let the boys down," he added.

"I’ve learned from it and I’ve just got to move on now and start l continued from back putting things right against Luton."

The 26-year-old centre-back, County’s player of the year in 2009/10, returns to the side in place of Chris Todd who is himself suspended following his sending off in the 3-3 draw at Mansfield last Saturday.

Warren played his first 90 minutes for more than a month in Tuesday night’s 1-0 friendly win at Merthyr and was pleased to put a frustrating time behind him.

"It feels like it’s been the longest suspension ever so it was good to get my boots on again on Tuesday," he said.

"It was a good workout and it was important to get in a game with Wayne Hatswell.

"His experience has been vital for us and hopefully we can work well together."

Warren believes that the club has begun to turn the corner under caretaker boss Tim Harris in recent weeks and he insists that the play-offs are still a realistic target.

"A lot has happened since Christmas," he added. "It takes a while to get over the manager going but the players that Tim has brought in are proven at this level. The second-half performance at Mansfield with 10 men was encouraging and we’ve got to build on that point and the point at Histon.

"There are still 16 matches to go and if we can win 10 of those we can make the play-offs."