Salford City v Newport County

Newport County go to the AIG Stadium on Tuesday night with the transfer window shutting that night and a fixture that looks, on the table at least, like the friendliest of the opening month. Salford City are 23rd with nothing from three games: beaten 3-1 at Barnet, beaten at home by Chesterfield, beaten at Shrewsbury on Saturday, three defeats and one goal scored. County are 11th on four points, and Saturday’s 2-2 with Tranmere Rovers was an hour of control followed by four minutes that nearly cost County the lot.

Hayden Mullins framed it as the character point rather than the two dropped. "Never gave up. I think the one thing I see in this team is real character, real grit and a real desire to fight for the badge," he said afterwards. The arithmetic he keeps returning to is the two-way one: eight goals in three games at one end, nine conceded at the other. "We just spoke about turning the dial down the other side and keeping it shut," Mullins said, and Tuesday at a side yet to score more than one in a league game is the invitation to do it.

Shaquille Gwengwe arrives with three of County's eight league goals, two on Saturday, the 11th minute and the 90th. Availability is the question Mullins left open: knocks to assess after the Tranmere game, Christian Doidge and Yahya Bamba among the names, with Tom Davies already missing at left-back. James Crole and Jed Garner were already out. Salford spent the summer rebuilding around Macaulay Langstaff, Will Norris, Elliot Bonds, Luke Molyneux, Abraham Odoh, Brendan Wiredu, Will Aimson, Joe Powell and Sam Long, and the new squad has nothing yet to show for it.

History says County travel here well enough. The last four meetings split two wins each, County winning 3-1 in Salford in February and 3-1 at Rodney Parade in October 2024, Salford taking 1-0 in Newport last August. Kick-off is 19:45, and by then the window will have shut on whatever either side did with deadline day.