Cautious Bucks in range of play-offs

Cautious boss Rob Smith insists AFC Telford United still have work to do to make sure of their place in the Blue Square North play-offs.The Bucks got back to winning ways on Saturday, beating rivals Harrogate 3-1 to record their first victory this season over a side in the top six and end a run of four consecutive defeats.

Their place in the play-offs could be guaranteed before they go to Stalybridge next weekend - should Southport draw or lose to Alfreton tomorrow evening and then draw when they play another of the play-off contenders, Nuneaton, on Friday.

But, at this stage, Telford still need four points to be mathematically certain of extending their season and Smith refuses to get carried away.

“I think Nuneaton will do well to catch us now, but we’ll know more by 10pm on Friday evening,” said Smith.

“If Barrow (who play Kettering tomorrow) or Southport drop points this week then I think we’ll pretty much be there, but as it stands I think we still need four points to be certain of making it.

“I’ll be going up to Southport tomorrow to watch them against Alfreton but I don’t think they’ll slip up in that one. Winning on Saturday has lifted a weight off our shoulders, but we know we still can’t take anything for granted.”

Meanwhile, assistant manager Larry Chambers praised his side for the way they reacted to going behind against Harrogate, falling behind to a shock goal after just 13 seconds.

“With a goal that quick, all our plans went out of the window,” he said. “We’d said we wanted to start well, be tight at the back and keep it 0-0 for the first 20 minutes.

“We’ve had our setbacks but we had to keep believing and the lads responded superbly. They settled into the game and we had our spell and, fortunately, we scored during that spell.

“I think you could see that once we got that, we started to get some confidence back in the team and started playing some football.”