AFC Telford United dominated this game from first whistle to last – but they can count themselves rather fortunate to be heading to Worcester for a replay tonight.

The Bucks had plenty of possession and enjoyed long spells camped in and around the visitors’ penalty area.

• Pictures – click here

Yet they managed to do amazingly little with it, barely stretching goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe into any meaningful action.

“I think when we get balls in the box there’s no desire to get on the end of them,” said boss Rob Smith.

“We must have had 15 or 16 corners in the course of the game and we didn’t even look like scoring.

“I’m massively frustrated with the lads at the moment, because they’re not delivering.”

Worcester, by contrast, had appeared with a gameplan that seemed to involve sitting deep and frustrating the hosts, and trying to hit them on the counter-attack.

It so nearly worked as the three best opportunities of the game all fell their way.

The first of those came on 32 minutes, when the Bucks gave the ball away 30 yards from goal.

Gary Walker was quick to pounce, spotting the run of Craig Wilding. The midfielder’s shot looked like it may squirm under Ryan Young’s body, but the keeper did enough to slow it and defender Gavin Cowan cleared.

Four minutes before the interval, they went close again as Walker burst down the right and crossed to the near post.

Forward Matty Dinsmore had peeled off to lose marker Cowan and set up the on-coming Rob Davies. He had the goal at his mercy but blasted his effort straight into a grateful Young’s gloves.

The Bucks at that stage had offered very little in terms of serious efforts on goal, harmless shots from Lee Vaughan and Jon Adams the best they could muster.

Smith had clearly seen enough, acting at the interval by bringing on new signing Steve Thompson for ineffective midfielder Liam Blakeman.

It was Worcester’s own replacement who made the more immediate impact though, City having introduced ex-Buck loanee Marco Adaggio.

Adaggio’s electric turn of pace brought another dimension to Worcester’s play and made them even more dangerous on the counter-attack.

And it was from one such break that the former Blessed Robert Johnson pupil got the chance to put the away side in front as he found himself closing in on goal.

This time it was captain Stuart Whitehead to Telford’s rescue, the wily centre-back tracking his one-time Shrewsbury team-mate before executing a perfectly-timed tackle to snuff out the chance.

The Bucks were barely any more effective in the second half than they had been in the first, though Thompson – the new recruit from Port Vale – did give Worcester a few problems with his directness and aggression.

Their best effort came when Sean Newton whipped in a decent cross from the left-hand side and Phil Trainer threw himself forward to connect with a diving header that forced Hinchliffe into his only testing save of the game.

And that rather summed up the day for the Bucks, who will wonder how they did not manage to see off relatively limited opposition.

“It’s alright having the pretty football, but where’s the chances on goal?” added an exasperated Smith. ” Where are the shots? Where’s the desire?

“It’s not good enough, but we’re still in with a shout. They seem to think they’ve won it by their reaction at the end, but we’ll see.”

Worcester’s post-match celebrations certainly were rather joyous – both among their 200 or so fans on the Frank Nagington Terrace and their players and management on the pitch.

For them, this was job done – Telford nullified and a second chance to finish the job back on their own patch this evening.

The Bucks simply cannot afford to leave their shooting boots at home this time if they are to upset the party.

By Chris Hudson