ABERYSTWYTH Town manager Matthew Bishop admits that there is plenty of room for improvement as the Seasiders embark on a crucially important festive period in the Dafabet Welsh Premier.

The Seasiders had lifted their spirits with a 2-0 win over Holywell in the Welsh Cup a fortnight ago, but attention now turns back to reviving their league fortunes.

After being left without any action last weekend, due to Bangor City’s rearranged Welsh Cup tie, Aber will travel to bottom six rivals Cefn Druids on Friday, before hosting the Citizens next Tuesday.

They then have a crucial double header against mid Wales rivals Newtown, at Park Avenue on Boxing Day, and at Latham Park on New Year’s Eve, with points now the sole focus for Bishop’s men.

The Aber boss could take several positives from his side’s performance in the Cup last time out, but he stressed that there were things to work on ahead of their trip to face Cefn Druids at The Rock.

“We are delighted to be in the next round of the Cup, it was always going to be a difficult game for us as Holywell are a decent team,” the Aber boss told atfc.com.

“It was a no-win situation, we were expected to win, if we had not it would be seen as a disaster.

“I was disappointed with the performance first half. We were far too open for my liking, and lost a bit of shape and discipline. We were better in the second half, but there were still areas for improvement.

“It almost turned into a basketball game, where we attacked then they did. There were spaces as a result but we didn’t take our chances, and the players were frustrated in the dressing room as we could have had a couple more.”

The Seasiders now face a crucial run-in ahead of the league split in mid-January, and until then Bishop said that all thoughts of Cup progression will be put on hold.

“We got on the scoresheet against Holywell and kept a clean sheet, but the league games are really important to us, and we’ve got another job to do now,” he said.

“We’ll just go game to game and build towards the next match until the last game on 14 January, we’ll worry about the Cup after that.”

Newtown’s 3-1 win at Rhyl last weekend meant that Aberystwyth dropped into the bottom two in the league table, but with six games to go, there is everything to play for.

The Seasiders are six points adrift of Llandudno in sixth position, but Bishop’s men will take heart from the fact that they have two games in hand, and four games at home.

Aber have also played all the top three clubs twice, meaning that their remaining matches before the split are all against sides battling to secure positions, including both Cefn Druids and Newtown twice.

Meanwhile Aberystwyth Town FC has congratulated Oliver Fairbrother, Harri Horwood and Jack Rimmer, who were all selected for the Welsh Under 18 Academy Representative Squad Training Camp.

All three players currently represent Aberystwyth’s Under 19s side in the Welsh Premier Development League (South), and Fairbrother and Rimmer have also appeared for the First Team this season.

“It is positive for us that we have got players coming through, and I’m delighted for them getting in the Welsh squad,” said Bishop.

Meanwhile the Seasiders are also rumoured to be in talks with a striker to help bolster their squad for the second half of the season, when the transfer window opens.