CONNAH’S Quay Nomads manager Jim Hackett believes his side can start celebrating Premier League survival if they bank the three points at stake in today’s home clash with relegation rivals Caersws.
“Historically, 30 points has proved sufficient to avoid relegation and as we are on 26 already, three more should see us safe” he said.
“Most of the teams around the bottom have to play each other and they can’t all win which makes our points in hand so valuable.
“We’ll keep going right to the end, but beating Caersws is a huge opportunity and we don’t want to miss out on it.”
Good news for the Nomads chief is the return of key man Wes Kilgannon after missing the last two games to await the birth of a new arrival.
“Wes is available again to put us back to full-strength and with the happy event over he is raring to go,” reported Hackett. Kilgannon’s return nicely cancels out the absence of Phil McDiarmid – on the bench last week – who has been despatched by Liverpool to help run a community soccer school in Hawaii from now until July or August.
Caersws’ new boss Dave Taylor faces a selection headache as he calls for a big effort from his charges ahead of the clash, writes John Bridgwater.
It’s the first league action for the lowly Bluebirds since the departure of manager Mike Barton last week, but his assistant Taylor is faced with an problem as defensive linchpins Andrew Thomas and Colin Reynolds are both out with a one match ban.
“It’s a blow to be without them for such a big game as we haven’t got a lot of options,” he said.
Graham Evan should be fit following his kick to the hip.
