Patience got its reward as AFC Telford United snatched a late winner at Gainsborough – but only after their old injury curse struck again.

Midfielder Carl Rodgers struck the winning goal just six minutes from time to earn the Bucks their second victory of the season.

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It came after Jon Adams had been lost to a hamstring injury inside the first 14 minutes – continuing a depressing run at Trinity.

Skipper Stuart Whitehead had picked up two serious injuries at the Lincolnshire club’s Northolme ground in the last couple of years, while Jimmy Turner and the now-departed Gary Birch have also been dogged by problems.

Whitehead even elected to sit out this fixture last season in order to avoid an unwanted hat-trick, though he actually made his first appearance of the season on Saturday – having recovered from damage to his knee ligaments he suffered in pre-season.

“I was a bit apprehensive before the game because of the injury,” said the Telford captain.

“It’s not 100 per cent yet so I have to manage it, and I’ve got a history of playing at Gainsborough and getting injured.

“There was no-one else to play there on Saturday so I had to go in, and I was just delighted to come off not injured again.

“I even turned the teams around (after winning the toss) because I’ve always got injured on the same part of the pitch in the first half here before.”

Commanding

Telford were full value for the three points, having bossed the game in both halves – though they were especially impressive in the opening 45 minutes.

The feared Gainsborough strike pairing of Luke Beckett and Glynn Hurst barely got a sniff against the commanding Whitehead and the equally impressive Gavin Cowan.

Chances came at the other end at regular intervals, with Lee Vaughan marauding down the right flank to terrific effect.

Danny Carey-Bertram, still looking for his first goal of the season, forced keeper Phil Barnes into an excellent reaction save on 19 minutes.

And Andy Brown should have broken the deadline when he headed wide off Vaughan’s perfect delivery four minutes before the interval.

The hosts made three changes at the break, including replacing injured keeper Barnes with rookie Luke Herriott.

The gamble was to prove costly for Gainsborough as Beckett subsequently picked up a groin injury that made him a virtual passenger for the rest of the game.

Telford were less fluent in the second half, but still carved out decent openings, one of the best coming from a Gavin Cowan header off a corner that thudded against the bar.

It was that avenue that eventually led to the deadlock being broken just when it seemed the Bucks had exhausted all their ideas.

Substitute Steve Torpey curled in the corner and the defender on the line could only head it straight to Rodgers, who made no mistake from 12 yards.

Telford might even have had a second when Liam Blakeman, the man who had replaced Adams early in the game, waltzed his way past three men with terrific guile and control before smashing his shot against the base of the post.

But there were no complaints in the Shropshire side’s changing room as they reflected on a precious three points.

“It got to the last 15 minutes and I just thought, with the chances and the possession that we’d had, that we were never going to score,” assistant manager Larry Chambers admitted.

“But we got a great goal from Bruno (Rodgers) and over the course of the 90 minutes we deserved the win.

“I thought we were very wasteful in the second half and made hard work of it. We got ourselves in very good situations and our final ball was poor.

“The one thing we did do which we haven’t done in recent games is we worked hard.

“The lads were all shattered at the end. They all put a shift in, and I wouldn’t have been able to say that after the last two games.”

By Chris Hudson