THE phrase ‘a tale of two halves’ is often overused in football but it could not be more true for Pershore Town.

In November, they were a club who were languishing in mid-table in the Hellenic League Division One and had won just seven of their opening 20 games of football in all competitions.

It was looking like a pretty forgettable season and after three successive defeats in November, the club and then manager Neil Parton parted ways with former player Danny Janes and his coaching staff brought in to replace him.

Janes and his team of five - assistant manager Tom Milward, James Rushden, Ash Wilkes and Brian Wilkes - hit the ground running and won their first six in all competitions including the the dramatic penalty shootout win over Bromsgrove Sporting in the Worcestershire Senior Cup quarter-finals.

Now, five months on, Pershore sit one game away from reaching the Hellenic League Division One play-offs and in two cup finals, the first of which comes on Tuesday night in the Worcestershire FA Senior Cup against Worcester City.

“The players have been fantastic to even put us in this position,” said Janes

“To have set-up the play-offs in the league and to be in two cup finals, you cannot ask for much more.

“We always said when we came in that we wanted to build foundations and finish the seasons strong but we have sort of overachieved and the players have. We want to finish strong but it has always been about next season.

“But it’s really nice to be in this position that we have something to play for.

“And now it’s all about players delivering. Next season, if we are still in this league then we have to win every week and win the league.

“But now we’re are in two cup finals and have a game to win to reach the play-offs and we want to win all three really and do as much as we can.”

Before all of that, they are in another cup this weekend when they face Shrivenham in the Supplementary Cup and Janes says they will be going full tilt in that to reach yet more glory.