RESURGENT Flint Town United have ‘turned a corner’, according to assistant manager Aden Shannon.

A sluggish start to the campaign under Andy Holden left the Silkmen languishing near the foot of the table.

Niall McGuinness has since proved to be an astute appointment at Cae-y-Castell after overseeing an upturn in the club’s form.

Despite an agonising Welsh Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Newtown last weeeknd, league victories against Penryncoch and Queen’s Park have instilled renewed optimism at the club.

Ahead of Saturday’s game at Guilsfield, Shannon insists the Flint players are in buoyant mood and focused solely on improving their lowly league position.

He said: “There’s been changes in personnel and I think we’re reaping some of the benefits of that now on the pitch.

“Certainly since the turn of the year I think we’ve made some good progress after some excellent performances in the league.

“Overall, the lads have proven we’re moving in the right direction and we’re only going to get better.

“We beat Guilsfield 3-0 at home earlier in the season, but their form has picked up since then and they’ll be a much tougher side at home.

“But this is a good chance for us to go down there and put the Newtown game from our minds with a decent performance.”

Flint are bolstered in attack by Obi Anuruo’s return to the squad along with fellow forward Chris Budrys.

John Haseldin insists title challenging Holywell Town side can expect no favours from their rivals.

The Wellmen have been in fine form with 11 wins in 19 league games putting them just four points adrift of leaders Caernarfon Town.

Speaking ahead of their home clash with Llandudno Junction, Haseldin maintains he is happy with his side’s status as title outsiders.

“All we’re focused on is our next game and not what anybody else is doing,” he said. “There’s no point in concerning ourselves with how the teams around us are doing each week – we can’t influence that.

“We’re not looking at the league table and hoping for other teams to slip up. There’s still 30 points up for grabs and a lot of football to be played so we can’t be worrying about league position.

“The group are getting stronger every week and a great buzz around the team at the moment.

“We’re enjoying our football right now and the games can’t come quickly enough for us.

“The mood is so positive around the club that we feel we can beat anyone in this league.

“Winning breeds confidence and we want to see how far we can go this season.”

Fit-again Phil Lloyd returns to the Wellmen squad after missing last weekend’s win at Gresford.

Gresford Athletic boss Steve Halliwell has urged his players to use last weekend’s defeat as a ‘wake-up call’.

Halliwell criticised his side’s lethargic showing in the 3-0 home reverse to Holywell, calling for ‘massive improvements’ in Saturday’s game at Caersws.

He said: “That defeat had been coming for a while.

“We’ve been picking up results but performances have really tailed off probably since the draw with Penrhyncoch.

“It’s important that we don’t let those performances define our season.

“We were blown away last weekend and it’s time to regroup now and try to get ourselves back on track with a win at Caersws.

“This is a chance for us to put things right quickly and we’re looking forward to it.”

Athletic’s defensive options have been bolstered  by the signing of 18-year old Matt Cole from TNS.

Influential centre back Max Peate is a doubt after a recurrence of a knee injury, while midfielder Jack Chalinor also misses out.

Airbus will channel the frustrations of their Welsh Cup exit against visiting Porthmadog.

Wingmakers assistant boss Andy Thomas slammed the refereeing decisions given against his side in the 4-1 defeat to Caramarthen Town.

And he has urged his players to erase that disappointment by taking their frustrations out on Saturday’s opponents.

He said: “We controlled that game for long periods against Carmarthen who benefited from some really soft decisions. We were up against a solid Welsh Premier side and some of the football we played was just excellent.

“We cut them open at times and we have to take the positives out of a really frustrating result for us.

“Curtis Strong looked outstanding on his debut and was a really big presence for us on the left hand side.

“We got turned over at Porthmadog early in the season and this is a chance for us to put that right.”

Chester-born full-back Danny Taylor is in contention to start for Airbus after re-signing for the club from Llandudno.

Martin Ford has called for his Queen’s Park side to replicate their early season performance against Holyhead Hotspur.

The Caia Park club have laboured in the Welsh second tier this term with just five points taken from their 17 games to date.

One of those points came in a spirited 2-2 home draw against Hotspur, which Ford hopes will help inspire his side on Saturday.

He said: “We matched Holyhead all over the park on that day and it was an excellent game.

“There have been a few times this season where we’ve showed teams in this league what we’re about and that was one of them.

“Obviously we’ve lost a few players since then and it’s been a tough season but we’re still positive. There’s been some big defeats along the way but the attitude and spirit of the players has been consistently good.

“We believe we’re good enough to compete in this league and hopefully we can show that again at Holyhead.”

Newly-signed striker Tom Williams comes into the Park squad while midfield duo Tony Jones and George Chikwado also return, but Sean Skimmings is suspended.

Elsewhere Ruthin host leaders Caernarfon, while Penrhyncoch visit Rhyl.