JOHN Sheridan has told his players that they can beat anyone in League Two as basement boys Newport County AFC begin a run of five games against sides in the top half.

County, still rooted to the bottom of the table, take on sixth-place Mansfield Town at Field Mill tomorrow before matches against Portsmouth (fourth), Wycombe (second), Bristol Rovers (12th) and Northampton Town (ninth) throughout October.

It’s a daunting task for a side with just six points from 11 games so far but Sheridan is confident that his side can surprise a few people in the coming weeks.

“The next six or seven games on paper you’d think we won’t win any of them,” said the new Exiles boss.

“But I think they are really good games. No one expects us to win the next few games, but I do.

“They all look tough when you are bottom of the table. But we could come out with a good points tally in my view.

“I look at every game and want to put in the players’ heads we can beat anyone, including Mansfield.

“On their day they can do it, but we need consistency.

“Mansfield are going really well, but we’ll go there with the mindset of trying to win.

“They are a good team, but it’s a game I think we can win.”

Sheridan says he is not afraid to change his formation after playing 4-4-2 in last week’s 1-1 draw with Exeter City, but he won’t be changing his captain.

“I try and focus on us, rather than the opposition, but at this level, unfortunately, you don’t always know what you’ll get from your team,” he said.

“I am not frightened to change my formation. I got labelled boring at Plymouth last season as we kept 23 clean sheets, but at Chesterfield, where I won this division, we were the most attacking side going.

“It’s about scoring goals and winning games and we’ll pick attack-minded teams.”

Sheridan gave his full backing to skipper Mark Byrne.

“We have Scot Bennett, Matt Taylor, Danny Holmes, plenty of experience on the pitch, but it would be early days to change the captain,” he added. “Mark is a good little player, has a good character about him, so it’s not an issue for me.”