Thursdays pick up valuable point (From Free Press Series)

Thursdays pick up valuable point

Crusaders 2 Abergavenny Thursdays 2

ABERGAVENNY Thursdays picked up their first point of the New Year with a vital draw away at fellow Gwent County strugglers Crusaders.

And now manager Bill Mainwaring has challenged his side to defy their critics and pick up as many points as they can from their remaining seven games.

Thursdays are rooted to the bottom of the Division Three table and favourites for the drop into the Gwent Central League. Mainwaring though is confident his side has what it takes to spark a surprise.

"We have a foundation in place now after the draw and what we now need to do is get a run of results in place to set our stall out with. "We've been continually developing this season and in recent games we've taken another step up again. The side is too good not to be in this division and now is the time to prove that," he said.

The former New Inn manager said he was pleased his side had at last picked up a point after a string of near misses in recent weeks. But as defiant as ever Mainwaring insisted his side should have bagged all three after having two of their goals disallowed by the referee.

"They were two awful decisions by the referee that were totally wrong. The two goals should have stood and we should have won. They were disappointing decisions and the lads knew that because they were gutted too," said Mainwaring.

Promising striker Shane Barry and the influential Mike Pengelly got Thursdays goals. This Saturday the Pen-y-Pound outfit travel to nearby PILCS who lie sixth in the table. Mainwaring though remains optimistic.

"We'll be going there to do out best," he said.

Saturday's match kicks off at 2.15pm.