Welshmen Michael Flynn and Nathan Jones go head-to-head at Kenilworth Road in Luton on Saturday (3pm).
Newport-born Flynn, aged 36, is manager of his home city club County, while Jones, a 44-year-old from the Rhondda, is in charge at Luton Town.
Jones is a former Cardiff City junior player who started his senior career with Merthyr Town.
Both men are hugely ambitious for their clubs – and are aiming for major success in their managerial careers.
Luton are fifth in League Two going into their clash with Newport, who are level on points and in seventh.
Flynn’s Exiles have earned 18 points from 10 matches this season, a total they didn’t reach until their 25th fixture in January during 2016-17.
Newport have lost only once in their last six fixtures and Flynn is happy with the form of his team, who won 2-1 at Crawley Town in midweek.
Flynn dismissed criticism from Crawley manager Harry Kewell, who said: “We fell into the trap of they’re hoofing the ball so we’ll hoof the ball. I don’t want my teams doing that.”
“That doesn’t bother me at all,” said Flynn. “We scored from two set plays, we’ve scored from a lot of set plays this season because we work on them.
“I’m not interested in what anyone else says about our team.
“Harry has his philosophy and the way he wants to play and good luck to him.
“We’ve played a lot of good football this season, a lot better than it has been in previous years.”
Opposite number Jones is delighted with Luton’s defensive record this season.
The clean sheet in a 0-0 draw against Morecambe (0-0 draw) their third in four games and their fifth from their opening 10 matches in League Two.
“They’re defending well and we defend set plays as a unit, not just the back four and a goalkeeper,” said Jones.
“We’re in good defensive form at the minute.
“We want to continue that, we work harder on our attacking side than we do on our defensive side, but we make sure that we work hard continually on our defensive side too.”
Jones has made it clear what he wants from his future in manager, saying: “I want to be a top, top manager. I don’t want to be mediocre. I don’t want to scratch around for jobs. I want to be World class.
“I won’t stop working towards that until I either achieve it or die.”
Jones signed for his schoolboy heroes Cardiff when he was young, while he went on to sign for Luton, Brighton, Yeovil, Southend and in Spanish football.
He played for Numancia and Badajoz in Spain and made more than 500 first team appearances in the UK, helping teams win promotion three times.
Jones was first team coach at Brighton before taking over at Luton, while he holds a Uefa Pro Licence and has spent time coaching England’s under-21 team, working alongside Gareth Southgate.
Newport County will make late decisions on David Pipe and Mark O’Brien, who were both injured during the match at Crawley. Flynn, though, is hopeful that Pipe will be fit and has not yet ruled O’Brien out completely.
“Pipey is a little bit stiff but you know what he’s like, he should be okay.” said Flynn. “Mark had a couple of bangs on the head and I thought he deserved more protection from the referee.
“He’s not ruled out completely, but after the game he did look like the Elephant Man. He had a thick ear, a big lump on his head and his lip and a black eye.”
County have been dealt an injury blow with news that 19-year-old midfield player Reece Cole, on loan from Brentford, needs surgery on a knee injury.
Newport County, probable: Day; Pipe, Bennett, Demetriou, White; Willmott, Labadie (capt), Tozer, Rigg; Nouble, Amond.