GARETH Owen is targeting maximum points from Airbus UK Broughton’s Christmas double-header.
The 12th-placed Wingmakers host third-from- bottom Caersws tomorrow and fourth-from-bottom Newi Cefn Druids on Boxing Day (2.30pm).
Given they have held sixth-placed Aberystwyth, fifth-placed Welshpool and leaders The New Saints to draws this month, Airbus will be favourites for the Airfield showdowns.
And if they do win them both it is likely to rocket them into the top 10 – somewhere their player-boss believes they should be already.
Owen said: “We should have taken three points at TNS as their manager Ken McKenna admitted, we should have beaten Welshpool but we missed a penalty in the last couple of minutes, and we could have won at Aberystwyth.
“That would have given us a lot more points and we’d be sitting pretty, but that’s gone now, and we’ve got games on Saturday and on Boxing Day that we’ve got to take points from. They will not be easy games but if we continue to do what we’ve been doing in these last five or six weeks I see no reason why we shouldn’t win them.”
Saturday’s 0-0 draw at an Aber side who are now unbeaten in seven matches provided further evidence that the Wingmakers’ young defence, marshalled by experienced captain Mark Allen, is growing into one of the best in the league.
But it was also another game in which they missed big chances.
Owen said: “We’re very tough to play against. We’ve only conceded 17 goals all season, but if you’re not putting the ball in the net at the other end, which we haven’t been doing recently, there’s always the danger you could concede and lose a game because of it.
“So I’ve told the lads that we have to be a bit more ruthless.”
Owen, having sat out of the last four weeks with a knee injury, is hopeful of making his comeback during the festive programme. Goalkeeper Chris Doran should return tomorrow after missing the Aber and Welshpool clashes with a hip problem. Ashley Crossthwaite, who turned 20 on Wednesday, has stood in admirably in his absence.
