It was scrappy at some points, farcical at others, but the three points were as welcome as any AFC Telford United have earned all season.

Winds verging on gale force made for nonsensical conditions for football, and the entertainment on offer was certainly not of the memorable variety.

But, after four straight defeats, the win heralded the dawning of a newly-focused Telford who are ready for the Blue Square North run-in.

Two goals for Phil Trainer were just reward for a man-of-the-match display, but the clean sheet was just as valuable to a side that had shipped two in each of those four losses.

Freed from the restraints of the FA Trophy, where he had been forced to contend with having four players cup-tied, boss Rob Smith opted for horses for courses in uninviting conditions.

Physical

Out went Liam Blakeman and Lee Moore – the gifted but inconsistent duo not even finding a place on the substitutes’ bench – as the Bucks instead lined up with wall of steel across the middle of the park.

Trainer, Carl Rodgers and Emeka Nwadike all fit into the ‘no-nonsense’ variety of player and their physical presence was to play a big part in a much-needed win.

The sight of striker Andy Brown playing two games in three days was also a pleasing one after all his recent problems with a persistent Achilles injury.

He was partnered in attack by new loan signing from Leicester Ricky Sappleton, though the teenager found the going tough.

Only meeting his team-mates for the first time in the dressing room before kick-off, he did not quite manager to show the form that has made him such a highly-rated prospect at the Walkers Stadium, and the bleak weather did not help.

Playing with the wind on their backs, Telford must have felt they had to earn the points before the break when the conditions were in their favour.

Frustratingly, they failed to create clear-cut chances, a snap shot by Andy Brown off Rodgers’ cross as close as they came in the first half hour.

They got the lead they so badly craved just six minutes before the interval though, Trainer heading in powerfully off a simply perfect cross from Lee Vaughan.

The fear, however, was that Hinckley might turn the game on its head in the second 45 minutes as they got the chance to make the most of a wind that was, if anything, getting stronger.

They certainly threatened to do just that as well, winning a string of corners in quick succession as the Telford goal came under heavy bombardment.

Chima Dozie had a shot saved by impressive Bucks’ keeper Ryan Young, while Vaughan came perilously close to an own goal as he headed over his own bar.

But Hinckley’s best chance came on 68 minutes when an Andy Gooding shot was deflected goalwards by Alex Taylor and Young threw himself out to make a fabulous save, before James Meredith hacked the ball away for a corner.

The Bucks had threatened rarely in the second period, though Rodgers did see a header off a Jon Adams corner cleared off the line by Dominic Roma.

But they weathered the Hinckley storm and began to take control once more in the final 20 minutes.

Any lingering nerves were finally dissolved two minutes into injury-time when Trainer notched his second of the game, bringing Nwadike’s chipped pass forward under control before turning and sweeping the ball home.

Trainer has largely failed to impress since joining on loan from Oxford, but has still racked up four goals, and his performances in the last two league games – at Blyth and here – suggest he has turned the corner.

That could just apply to the Telford team as a unit, too.

The distraction of the FA Trophy gone, the injury list starting to clear up, they look in good shape for one last big push.