Llandudno have turned to veteran striker Gary Taylor-Fletcher to help them snap their winless streak.
The 37 year-old former Premier League striker returns to football following his previous spell as player/assistant manager at Bangor City and is expected to go straight into their team to face Bala Town tonight (7.45).
Llandudno have taken just one point from their last seven league outings and are three points adrift from safety, but Taylor-Fletcher is confident the Maesdu Park side can reverse their fortunes and move away from the relegation zone.
“I’ve been speaking to a few clubs over the last few weeks but it would have taken too long with the international clearance to come through over in England, then I got a call from Iwan asking if I’d be interested in coming in to help out the squad with my experience,” he explained.
“I didn’t have to think too long, and the deal was done pretty quickly.
“We definitely have what it takes to stay up with the squad that’s assembled, but for some reason things haven’t gone to plan.
“It’s a very strong squad who is underachieving and hopefully just needs a boost in confidence to turn it around.”
Fourth-placed Bala Town, will be a difficult test for Iwan Williams’ side, but the Llandudno manager feels there were positives from the two sides meeting earlier in the season.
On that occasion, the Lakesiders won 2-1 but Llandudno finished strongly as they attempted to force a point.
“It’s going to be a really tough game. Colin Caton has a fantastic at his disposal. In the previous fixture against them we were unlucky towards the death not to come away with something,” said Williams. “We need that endeavour from the off tonight.”
At the top of the table, Scott Ruscoe is looking forward to seeing his side’s response after The New Saints crashed to a surprise defeat at Aberystwyth a week ago.
That defeat leaves Saints in the unfamiliar position of being third in the table, two points behind joint-leaders Connah’s Quay and Barry Town.
“We’ve worked hard in training, we’ve had a little talk about what’s gone on and where we can improve, and everyone is on the same page,” he said ahead of Friday night’s visit of Caernarfon Town to Park Hall.
“We’re a club that is used to success – everybody wants us to fail, everybody wants new title challengers and it’s boring when TNS win everything – it’s not boring for us!
“We’re looking forward to Friday, with a reaction and a tempo, and a patience to our side with an edge to us at home previously when we’ve scored lots of goals.”
Friday: Llandudno v Bala Town, The New Saints v Caernarfon Town. Saturday: Carmarthen v Cefn Druids Connah’s Quay v Barry Town, Newtown v Llanelli. Sunday: Cardiff Met v Aberystwyth.
1 | Connah’s Quay Nomads | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 32 | 11 | 21 | 28 |
2 | Barry Town United FC | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 28 |
3 | The New Saints | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 36 | 9 | 27 | 26 |
4 | Bala Town | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 23 | 18 | 5 | 23 |
5 | Newtown | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 21 |
6 | Aberystwyth Town | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 20 | -4 | 20 |
7 | Cardiff Metropolitan University | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 17 |
8 | Caernarfon Town | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 16 | -4 | 16 |
9 | Cefn Druids | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 16 | -1 | 13 |
10 | Carmarthen Town AFC | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 27 | -12 | 12 |
11 | Llandudno FC | 13 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 20 | -12 | 9 |
12 | Llanelli Town AFC | 13 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 41 | -29 | 7 |