Mike Ward, the Flanagan’s Onions coach, has backed his side to bounce back from what he called a controversial loss to Dandy Town at Goose Gosling Field on Sunday.

Onions, who were two points behind Town in the Premier Division title race going into the weekend, fell 3-1 to the leaders in treacherous conditions after heavy rain. After the final whistle, Ward was adamant that the match should have been stopped when the pitch became unplayable.

Falling from fourth to fifth, and now five points off the pace, Ward hopes his team will get a fairer shake of the dice when they meet Somerset Trojans on Saturday night.

“The result will only make us hungrier to put it right this weekend,” Ward said. “I don’t think we started as sharply as we could have, but I don’t think our performance warranted the 3-0 scoreline at half-time, especially since the three goals all came from questionable decisions from the officials.

“I just hope this weekend the game is played 11 versus 11 and not 11 versus 13 in a pond. If we have a similar performance as we did in the second half against Dandy Town, then we’ll be just fine.”

Onions can expect Saturday’s match to be just as tough because Somerset, who have slipped to third, will come to their patch looking to take over first place again.

Mounting one late surge may be still be possible for Ward’s troops, but time is running out because they have only three matches remaining. Even so, they are already safe in the top division for the second time and can now set their sights on a maiden Dudley Eve Trophy campaign next season, which is well within their grasp. They hold a four-point cushion over seventh-placed Hamilton Parish.

“We want to win all three remaining league games and push to the very end,” Ward said. “The title might be out of our hands, but we’re not 100 per cent out of it altogether.

“In the end, we want to finish as high as we possibly can in the standings. If that means settling for second place after three wins, then so be it.”