QUENTIN Townsend has challenged Pershore Town to continue their upward momentum by proving they can compete with the top ten in Midland League Division One.
Pershore rattled up a fifth win in their last eight matches with a 2-1 win at Studley on Saturday, with Shaun Griffiths and Sean Cooke on target.
Boss Townsend stressed Town are still a work in progress but they will have the chance to measure their improvement with successive home games.
They entertain ninth placed Heather St John’s on Saturday and then meet 11th placed Cadbury Athletic in the Polymac Packaging League Cup on Tuesday.
“We are definitely on the right path – we’ve won five, drawn one and lost two in our last eight games,” said Townsend.
“I had to crack the whip a few weeks ago but the players have responded in the last few weeks.
“Now we’ve got a run of games against teams around ninth to tenth. We’ve beaten the teams around us so we’ve got the opportunity to show we can beat teams higher up the league.”
Pershore completed the double against second from bottom Studley – a result which meant Bees boss Kev Kingham departed as manager.
The Bees begun smartly but Pershore withstood the early pressure and created plenty of chances.
“In the first ten minutes when they had a lot of the ball, we needed to defend well and the players put their bodies on the line,” said Townsend.
“But once we scored I felt confident we would win. My only moan would be that we had a lot of chances but didn’t take them.”
Townsend handed a debut to on-loan front-runner Jelson Antonio against the Bees and the Kidderminster Harriers player hit the bar. With Jamie Clarke unavailable for the next month, Antonio will get his chance to impress.
“Jelson came in and did well and in training he has looked on fire,” said Townsend. “He is going to get his opportunity.”
On Saturday Pershore will also be without the unavailable Cooke and James Walker.
Turn to page 39 for a match report from Saturday’s game.