Newport County: Wimbledon aim to ease Cup hurt against Exiles

AFC Wimbledon are aiming to use Newport County as a chance to ease the “sting” of their FA Cup humbling.

The Dons were on the end of an upset in Saturday’s second round as they lost to National League side Dagenham & Redbridge.

The reward for the Daggers was a London derby with Championship Millwall in the third round, leaving Wimbledon to concentrate on their aims of League Two promotion – starting with the visit of the Exiles on Tuesday.

The Dons are in the fourth-tier play-off places in seventh, five points and nine places above Nelson Jardim’s Newport.

And Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson says they are keen to use the game to bounce back from their FA Cup defeat.

“It stings, we wanted to go through,” said Jackson.

“But we have to park it really quickly because we have another game and that’s the bigger picture, what we’re doing in the league.

“We wanted to go as far as we could in the cup but we can’t dwell on it because we have another game and in the midst of a tough schedule and we have to win to try and make it easier to forget.”

Jackson is dealing with injury problems for the Plough Lane fixture, saying his squad is “stretched really thin” with captain Jack Reeves and striker Myles Hippolyte among those missing.