PERSHORE Town have been urged to use the ‘welcome distraction’ of an FA Vase tie to reboot their season.
After three successive Midland League Division One defeats, manager Quentin Townsend hopes Saturday’s first qualifying round tie against Bewdley Town at the King George V Stadium will provide the perfect platform to regain a winning momentum.
The Town boss says he is going to have to tinker with Pershore’s tactics after Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at high-flying Hinckley AFC highlighted weaknesses, but he is confident hard work will improve matters.
Town will also be boosted by the availability of striker Louis Bridges after an 18-month injury absence, plus midfielder Ollie Casey to face West Midlands Regional League Premier Division side Bewdley.
Bridges, who has been given a further all-clear by specialists after a cruciate ligament injury, will be on the bench.
“I think Hinckley are going to be a top two side at the end of the season, they have got one of the best squads in the league so it’s was no surprise we found it tough,” said Townsend.
“It was even more of a struggle after having to play the second half with ten men.
“But we didn’t play well. The way we worked in pre-season to press high up the pitch hasn’t really worked. That’s probably my fault so we need to change things.
“The Vase will be a welcome distraction. I don’t know too much about Bewdley but they drew with Malvern who have been excellent so far so they will be a threat.
“We trained well on Tuesday, we’ve had a good turnout and the boys know they can do better. At the moment, we’re on a losing run but we need to get that winning momentum going.”
Meanwhile, Pershore have bid farewell to goalkeeper Sean Edwards and defender Dan Dineen, who have both switched to Studley.
Edwards had been No 1 but the arrival of Tom Cross from Hinckley pushed him down the pecking order, while Dineen also lost his place last week.
Townsend explained the move to bring in Cross, who had been his keeper in his previous job at Southam United, had come out of the blue.
“Sean has done absolutely nothing wrong but I just feel Cross insthe best keeper in the league and when he became available it was too good an opportunity to turn down,” said the manager.