AFC Telford United 1 Curzon Ashton 1

The Bucks appeared to have been taught a harsh lesson in the finer margins they will find at step two when Ben Darby fired visitors Curzon Ashton ahead with just five minutes plus stoppage time remaining.

But just as so often in recent times, Pendley was able to deliver a rescue act.

The defender scored vital goals in each of the final three games of last season and on Saturday he was at it again, donning his metaphorical cape to fly through the air and direct a header past Nash keeper Callum Hawkins.

Pendley’s intervention may not have been necessary had the Bucks been able to make more of a concerted spell of second half pressure.

That came after an opening period in which boss Kevin Wilkin later acknowledged his team had been second best.

With an unchanged line-up from their opening game, the Bucks could have been punished inside four minutes had Nash forward Crispin McLean not undone some good work by slicing his shot. Alex Curran also went close for the visitors in the early stages.

The Bucks finally began to settle, and their first opportunity fell to Rhys Hilton. After shaping to shoot with his left, he moved the ball back to his right and got a shot off that Hawkins beat away for a corner.

Alfie Brooks, making his first home start in goal, saved Adam Barton’s volley, while Curran saw an effort charged down.

Telford were struggling for rhythm in attack but on the stroke of half-time almost conjured the opener when a flurry of action around the Nash goal culminated in Khanya Leshabela sending a drive off the base of the post. 

It was the home side’s turn to survive a scare early in the second half. Barton was picked out unmarked at the far past but his swing at the ball was nonchalant to the point of indifference, and he struck his volley wide of Brooks’ left-hand post.

That was the warning the Bucks needed and with the home supporters providing encouragement, they began to find some belief.

Ola Lawal and Dylan Allen-Hadley were introduced off the bench and added some much-needed drive and conviction.

After 55 minutes, defender Oliver Cawthorne almost crowned a solid performance with the opener, but steered a downward header wide of the far post.

Lawal’s willingness to take on full-back Jordan Richards exposed a vulnerability, and he curled a deflected shot wide to Hawkins’ left as the pressure increased. 

Joe Rodwell-Grant earned a booking for a very late tackle on Luke Rowe, before Cawthorne again met a set-piece and appeared to have beaten Hawkins to his left, only for a defender to help his keeper out with a clearance off the line.

Lawal and Allen-Hadley switched flanks, and Hawkins made an instinctive thrust upwards with his hand to push the latter’s close-range bullet header.

The keeper was forced into further work by another substitute, Adan George, as the hosts continued to raise the pressure.

It seemed certain a goal would come but when it did, it was at the other end.

Bucks followers must have felt a goal would surely come, and it did, but at the opposite end. Allen-Hadley and most of the home crowd thought he’d been pulled back, but referee Darren Rogers gave no foul. 

The Bucks appeared to lose their concentration, and Timi Sobowale released fellow substitute Jack Stobbs. His cross found another substitute in Darby, who headed past Brooks into the bottom right-hand corner.

Telford appeared to lose their composure and were fortunate not to concede again when Darby steered a shot from the edge of the box just over the bar.

Wilkin brought Manny Illesanmi off the bench and he immediately made a nuisance of himself, seeing a close-range shot blocked by desperate defenders.

With two of the five additional minutes remaining, the Bucks made the breakthrough, a series of corners culminating in Pendley heading past Hawkins and into the bottom corner, sparking wild scenes of delight among the 1,400-strong crowd.

There will be plenty more lessons and learning that the Bucks will need to absorb quickly back at step two and Wilkin is finding out more about his players with every game. One thing he can’t teach them, but which he has nurtured in them, is a spirit that isn’t easily broken.

While supporters invariably want it all, they will perhaps forgive the occasional lack of quality; what they are less forgiving of is a lack of fight and heart. 

The good news is that this Bucks team looks unlikely to run up the white flag when the going gets tough.