MARTIN Drury and Jamie Price have been as instrumental as anyone in turning the team’s fortunes around recently, according to manager John Deacey.

The midweek home draw, which kept relegation rivals Colwyn Bay at arm’s length, stretched Avenue’s unbeaten run to six games. Since beating Tadcaster Albion in the West Riding County Cup semi-final Avenue have reaped 11 points from five games.

They are now four points clear of the relegation zone and still have games in hand on all of the clubs around them in the nether regions of the table.

Deacey will not allow complacency to set in and insists that no one at the club thinks they are safe. He is calling for a similar points return from their remaining 13 games.

And he passed on the credit for the run that has lifted them up from second bottom. He said: “I think Dru and Pricey should get a special mention because they have made a massive difference.

“They have got the lads very fit and that is showing in the games. The lads can go all day if they have to and we’re wearing teams down. That has led to us picking up a lot more points.

“You only have to look at the Lowestoft game when we played with ten men for more than 70 minutes. We got a point out of that and it could, probably should have been three.

“The lads like training because Dru and Pricey always put on sessions that have a bit of fun and enjoyment in them. They really are very good coaches and they’re innovative with the sessions with a lot of work but never any repetition.

“That has got the lads in good shape and it’s up to us, the three of us, to manage that now and make sure we don’t overload the players with too much football. We have a lot of games to play, so the run-in is going to be hectic, but we have a full and competitive squad now and we have to be smart and use them in the right way.”