AFC Telford United put their unbeaten start to the season on the line at Fleetwood tomorrow with a clash against “the Manchester City of the Blue Square North”.

Fleetwood, backed by multi-millionaire chairman Andy Pilley, have invested heavily in their playing squad over the summer – the stand-out signing being the £17,000 capture of centre-back Steve McNulty from Barrow.

But it is a sign of the embarrassment of riches at boss Micky Mellon’s disposal that McNulty is yet to make his starting line-up.

“They’re the Man City of the league,” said Telford chief Rob Smith. “It will be a big occasion.

“I know they put a reserve side out at Southport last night that would have put any team in our league to shame financially, and that shows the strength they’ve got.

“They had McNulty, Nick Rogan and Adam Warlow playing – all very good players at this level.

“If I think I’ve got a selection headache, then I dread to think what Micky Mellon has got.”

Telford are yet to win a game against Fleetwood in four attempts, and Smith is eager to change.

“We’ve got a really poor record against them,” he said. “Every time we’ve played them we’ve always been in the middle of a poor run or struggling with lot of injuries.

“But this time we’re going there with a strong squad and the pitch will be good so I think we can give them a good game.”

Midfielder Jon Adams will play his 100th game for the club if he is involved, but captain and centre-back Stuart Whitehead remains a doubt.

Whitehead, who has been recovering from an ankle injury, trained last night but no decision has yet been taken on whether he will feature at Highbury Stadium.

“Stu wants to play and we’ll have a look at it tomorrow,” said Smith. “The extra couple of days (before Tuesday’s home game with Hinckley) might make him even stronger and there’s no need to rush him.”

By CHRIS HUDSON