SHAWBURY United manager Dave Richards wants his side to put an end to their up-and-down displays so far this season by claiming maximum points in two big games this week.

United continued their inconsistent start to life back in the West Midlands Premier Division after last season’s relegation with two contrasting home results over the past few days.

Having beaten Shifnal Town 4-2 in midweek, they lost 5-0 to Bewdley Town on Saturday – although there were extenuating circumstances behind the latter result.

Boss Richards missed the game due to his wedding, which was also attended by several players, leaving a somewhat-depleted Shawbury to face Bewdley at United’s temporary Ludlow home.

United remain in the division’s bottom three with seven points from seven matches but have games in hand on all the sides around them.

Richards is confident they will climb the table but wants six points this week as Shawbury host mid-table Dudley Town tomorrow night (Wednesday) and visit basement side Bilston Town on Saturday.

He said: “Dudley is another game we need to try to win – these midweek games, when teams are travelling all the way over to Ludlow, we need to make sure we take advantage of that.

“I think we need maximum points from these two games, there is no hiding away from that. We need to pull away from the teams around us and catch up points on the sides above.

“We don’t want to miss these opportunities to pull away and we want to get as many points on the board before Christmas.

“Hopefully we can then enjoy the second half of the season and look to rebuild for when we are back in Shawbury next season.”

Richards, who oversaw a huge squad turnover in the summer after relegation, admitted it had not been easy managing while planning a wedding but added: “I don’t want to start making excuses.

“We’ve conceded 18 goals so far – that is too many and something we need to be working on.”

Five of those came on Saturday against Bewdley who led 2-0 at half-time and scored three more in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

Due to the absences, including his own, Richards is happy to draw a line under that one and wants Shawbury to take inspiration from the midweek win over Shifnal when United came from 2-0 down.

Harry Farnsworth bagged a hat-trick, new signing Ben Salter netted and Josh Carrington had a goal harshly ruled out as Shawbury came back to win 4-2.

Richards added: “Again we switched off and found ourselves 2-0 down to a very direct Shifnal side but we picked up in the second half and that has been the story of our season.

“When we get the ball down and play football, we can compete against teams in this division but when we go away from what we have been doing in training, we come unstuck.”