QUENTIN Townsend is backing Pershore Town’s spirit and togetherness to drag them towards safety in Midland League Division One.
Despite dominating against visitors Pelsall Villa, Town were beaten 1-0 on Saturday – their ninth loss in ten matches – leaving them four points above the bottom two.
Manager Townsend says no team is too good to go down but he insists Pershore are looking up, rather than worrying about being dragged into a relegation battle.
Town will look to chalk up a first home league win since September 24 when they entertain tenth placed Bolehall Swifts on Saturday.
“Apart from Bromsgrove, Hinckley and Leicester Road who are challenging for the title, I’m not scared of playing any other of the 16 teams in the league,” said Townsend.
“I know we’re good enough to beat them. The test is to be able to do it.
“We’ve got to keep believing. We’ve shown that in the last couple of matches. In some previous games, we have lacked a little bit of backbone, but you can see now there’s plenty of spirit in the team and team spirit will take you a long way.
“Saturday’s game was a bit of a six-pointer because Pelsall were three points behind us. We had the chance to open a gap but now they’re ahead on goal difference. But I’m not looking down, I’m looking upwards.”
With Southam United, yet to win this season, marooned at the foot of the table and seemingly doomed, six points separate 19th place to 15th place.
Pershore have games in hand on the teams around them and, despite defeat at the weekend, Townsend, having embarked on a major revamp, remains upbeat.
“I left the ground on Saturday disappointed because we dominated and had enough chances to win two games, but I was more confident than ever that we are moving in the right direction,” said the manager.
“Anyone who saw Saturday’s game would have said the result was harsh on us. We created so many chances and then their goal came from a corner that flicked off the head of Luke Church. That summed up our day.”
Pershore, meanwhile, have welcomed back defender Shaun Griffiths after a nose operation to improve his breathing and handed him back the captain’s armband.
The defender, who had been skipper last term, takes over from Louis Bridges, who has moved to Droitwich Spa.
“As a manager, you have to hold your hand up when you get things wrong and I was wrong to take the captaincy off Griff,” said Townsend. “He is a leader and that’s what we need.”
Town are hoping striker Ben Lane will be fit to face Bolehall after missing the Pelsall game through an ankle injury, while Tom Hobbs will sit out the final match of his three-game ban following his red card against Littleton.
