THE looming prospect of a suspension will not make Tom Newey think twice about going in for a tackle against AFC Wimbledon tomorrow.

Oxford United’s left back has received four bookings this season, meaning he is one mis-timed challenge away from incurring a ban.

With the cut-off period, where a fifth booking would not lead to a punishment, another two months away, Newey admits it is only a matter of time before he is forced to sit out a game.

But for a player whose game is built around competing for the ball, the 30-year-old it will not be playing on his mind.

“Not really, it can’t do,” he said.

“If there’s a tackle there to be made you have to put your body on the line and throw yourself in.

“It might be reckless but sometimes you have to do it to give a foul away to stop a team counter-attacking.

“It’s going to happen, it’s inevitable that I’m going to get booked again.

“It’s not something I think about and when it happens we’ve got the strength in depth I think to deal with that.”

United will head to south London after suffering only two defeats in the opening 13 games of the season.

It puts them fourth, although Newey, who is as no-nonsense off the pitch as he is on it, will not be wasting much time poring over the standings for the moment.

He said: “I think it’s probably too early to look at the table now.

“You obviously want to be up there, you don’t want to be chasing it.

“After Christmas and when you get to January and February it will start to take shape and people may start to pull away.

“That’s when you look at it and think ‘we’re in the mix, now we push for the last 15 games’.

“It’s nice to be in there and that’s where you want to be.”

Newey is also part of a defence looking to claim a fourth clean sheet on the spin, which would be United’s best defensive sequence for almost two years.

The former Leeds United trainee believes it shows the hard work is paying off.

He said: “We have an understanding as a back four or a back three.

“We work hard on it in training and we’ve got people like Raynesey (Michael Raynes) come in and be outstanding.”