NIALL MCGUINNESS knows only Flint Town United can get their season back on track - and he’s looking forward to the challenge of galvanising his team.

The Silkmen went into the enforced break on the back of six successive defeats, a run which had left McGuinness’ men second from bottom in the top-flight table.

But four of those losses came by just one goal, while the 2-0 home defeat to Haverfordwest County came after Flint missed two glorious chances to score.

“People say ‘things will change’ and ‘you’re playing really well’, but it’s about picking up points,” said boss McGuinness. “And these things only change if you make that happen, so we need to find a way to win a game, whether that’s playing ugly or brilliantly.”

The break came at a good time for Flint, who have been able to get their injured players back while taking stock of performances and results.

“It’s been good to reflect on what’s happened and see where we can improve,” said McGuinness. “We are not a million miles away and a lot of results have been decided by fine margins.

“If you take out the defeats to TNS and Aberystwyth - where we weren’t great in the second-half - we haven’t been far away in every game we’ve played.

“We’ve had chance to be in-front and we’ve had chances to pick up more points than we had, which is promising, but we now need to start turning good performances into good results.”

Flint return to action on Saturday afternoon at Newtown, who were beaten 1-0 by the Silkmen on the opening weekend.

“There’s no easy game and we know that,” said McGuinness. “It’s a difficult place to go and they are on the same points as us, but they’ve only won one of their nine games, so they will be feeling it.”

Experienced trio John Danby, Nathan Craig and Wes Baynes have all recovered from injury and will all be part of a fully fit Flint squad for the trip to Latham Park.

Cefn Druids are the only team below Flint in the table at present, and the Ancients will be looking to do something about that at home to Haverfordwest County on Saturday.

Druids have picked up four points from eight games this season, but remain just one win away from getting themselves out of the bottom two.

The break came at a good time for Bruno Lopes’ men, who have taken stock of how the campaign has gone.

Assistant head coach Jayson Starkey said: “It’s been like pressing the reset button for us.

“It’s been a good opportunity to take stock of what’s previously gone on, and it’s not gone how we’d have hoped and we’ve probably been overthinking things at times.

“During this latest lockdown we’ve done lots of reflection, we’ve been open and honest with each other, and we’ve reflected on the positives - because there have been some - and looked at areas where we can improve.”

One positive to come out of the enforced lockdown was that the likes of Phil Mooney and Joe Faux have returned to fitness.

“We will now have a tough selection process,” said Starkey. “People will be left out of the team, and in some cases the squad, for certain games. It will provide healthy competition in the group.”