Market Drayton Town 'galvanised' for return and key flurry of games
Market Drayton Town return from a frustrating period of inactivity to a critical flurry of matches in their North West Counties survival surge.
Dan Dawson's troops have not played since the impressive 2-1 victory at Barnton on February 7 in First Division South.
They return to action at promotion-hunting Stafford Town on Saturday before a run of crucial fixtures as Dawson will hope to find some consistency to finally pull away from the two relegation places.
Weather permitting, Drayton will next Tuesday night finally contest the home clash against Sandbach United, which has twice been postponed at Greenfields.
They follow that up with a short trip to Shrewsbury to tackle county rivals and basement boys Haughmond, who are five points adrift of safety. Tuesday week, March 10, then brings another home clash for Gingerbread Men fans with the rescheduled clash against Cammell Laird before an away game at New Mills on March 14.
Dawson's side head into the run five points clear of the dotted line and Shawbury United, the other Shropshire outfit who occupy the final relegation place.
Dawson revealed a team meeting prior to the Barnton victory put Drayton in a good place and the Town boss feels optimistic about the run-in.
"We're in a position now where we've got a pretty strong squad, we've got most people back from injury, we haven't got any suspensions at the minute, which is really good," Dawson said.
"We had a bit of a team meeting before the Barns game, where we had a few discussions around various things, and it galvanised the lads a little bit.
"We wanted to have a real big push for the final 11 games of the season, and we tweaked a few things in terms of our formation and tactically how we wanted to play."
