MANAGER Les Jones has urged his players to keep their “foot on the pedal” as Malvern Town bid to remain in the promotion race in West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division.

Jones’ men were left “devastated” on Tuesday night after Brendon Hackett stuck in the dying seconds to secure Wellington a 3-2 victory over Malvern.

The gut-wrenching away defeat for third-placed Town was a further boost to leaders Wolverhampton Sporting Community’s title hopes as they sit in a commanding position.

Malvern are six points behind Sporting who have three games in hand on their rivals.

But with the Football Association (FA) looking to restructure the non-league system Jones felt there was still a chance Town could go up without finishing top of the pile.

“We were absolutely devastated to lose on Tuesday,” said Jones whose side drew level at 2-2 with a goal from Josh Hunt in the 90th minute.

“But we have got to go again.

“There are still eight games to go so there are still a lot of points to play for.

“We don’t know whether there will be one, two or even three teams going up this year due to the big changes in the leagues, so we have got to keep our foot on the pedal until the end of the season.”

Wendy Juggins, chair of the West Midlands (Regional) League, said promotion and relegation from steps three to seven was still “up in the air”.

“The Football Association are dealing with it all. We won’t have anything to do with it,” she said.

“The FA’s Leagues Committee meet at the end of May and they will be doing all the restructuring of steps three, four, five, six and seven.”

With only a better goal difference keeping Black Country Rangers ahead of Town in second position, Jones is determined to bounce back with a victory.

Malvern face Stone Old Alleynians on Saturday (3pm) in their final home game of the season before tackling seven away matches.

“We have got a lot of tough games coming up so we have got to make sure we get a win on Saturday,” Jones added.

“It’s imperative.

“It is our last home game of the season so all the lads are keen to put in a top performance and hopefully we will get a decent crowd there.”