Newport County manager Hayden Mullins is relishing a game against the club that gave him his big break on Tuesday.

The Exiles welcome Crystal Palace Under-21s to Rodney Parade in what is realistically a qualification shoot-out in the EFL Trophy.

Mullins will hope to get one over the Eagles, who he played for 257 times, and captained, after coming through as a trainee.

"It's the club that gave me my first break in professional football," said Mullins, who made his Palace debut as a teenager under Terry Venables in 1998.

"I will never forget Crystal Palace, they are a team that I hold close to my heart because I was captain for a number of years after coming through the youth team.

"It's a fantastic club and I only have good things to say about them."

Nonetheless, Mullins would love to extend Newport's unbeaten Rodney Parade record this season against the young Eagles.

"I know Darren Powell well having played with him and he will have them set up to be aggressive," he said.

"They will have loads of energy and these are always tricky games because under-21s come with a lot of enthusiasm.

"It's almost their cup final, I did it with Fulham and these games are ones where the young players really want to impress."

The Exiles will qualify for the knockout stages if they avoid defeat against the young Eagles.

If it is a draw then Palace could go level on points with Newport by winning the penalty shootout, but County would have a superior goal difference.

It is still possible for both sides to go through but it would require a Palace shootout victory and Plymouth suffering a heavy defeat by Swindon on Tuesday, 10 November.