Fleetwood Town

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Scunthorpe United have signed forward James Norwood and midfielder Dan Batty on short-term deals.

Norwood, 36, spent last season in League Two with Fleetwood Town, for whom he scored six times in 24 appearances, while Batty was part of York City's National League title-winning squad.

Norwood played in the Oldham Athletic side in 2025 that won promotion to the English Football League, scoring one of the Latics' goals in their promotion final win over Southend United at Wembley.

During a career in which he has scored more than 200 goals, he counts Ipswich Town, Barnsley, Tranmere Rovers and Exeter City among his previous clubs.

Batty, 28, played over 100 games in a three-year spell with York before he was released following the Minstermen's promotion.

Eleeza Khan
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Newport County midfielder Ciaran Brennan expects a "tough" test against Fleetwood Town as the Exiles aim to preserve their unbeaten home record.

Fleetwood arrive in south Wales unbeaten in their opening five League Two matches and buoyed by their 2-0 win over Shrewsbury Town.

While the Cods are bidding for consecutive league wins, Newport will be looking to recover from last Saturday's late 1-0 loss at Northampton Town.

But Brennan believes home advantage could prove decisive for The Exiles.

"At home you can see it, we feed off the fans and the crowd," said Brennan.

After failing to score at Northampton, the Irishman also highlighted the club's need to be more effective at both ends of the pitch.

Newport have had less than 50% possession in five of their six League Two matches this season, and Brennan admits spending long periods without the ball can be demanding.

While boss Hayden Mullins has stressed the importance of making possession count, Brennan feels there are times when County could ease pressure by keeping hold of the ball for longer.

"There's no point in having possession just to pass around the back. Fans don't pay to see that," he added.

"When I was a kid, I didn't want to watch that. You want to see chances, crosses and shots on goal.

"But there are times when we've defended for five or six minutes, won the ball back and then given it away again.

"Whereas if we have a little spell on the ball it doesn't have to be around the back it can be wherever it just relieves pressure."

Brennan has started alongside Cameron Evans in all but one of Newport's games so far this season and feels the pair are building a strong partnership.

"Cameron's a great lad, he's one of my closest pals here so it works really well.

"We're just two honest lads, we'll run and run and run until we can't anymore.

"But we just need to be a bit more patient when we get the ball back. I think there's times where we can't be 100 miles an hour all the time and we can just have a spell on the ball"

Despite three games without a win, Brennan says morale remains high ahead of Newport's return to Rodney Parade.

"We will be looking to get right after them (Fleetwood) as always, get the crowd behind us and, see where it takes us."