Analysis: AFC Telford United go above and beyond with first win of the season
A win, by any means, was what the Bucks needed - however, they went above and beyond in securing a maiden victory back at step two following promotion, writes Rich Worton.
Manager Kevin Wilkin felt this was the most complete performance since he took the reins in October 2022, based not only on how his team played, but also on who they were playing against.
Spennymoor were behind schedule, following the breakdown of their team coach, but arrived in fifth place in the table, with three wins and a draw from five matches. An established side in National League North, the Moors appeared to pose a stern test, so the way the Bucks dismissed them was hugely encouraging.
Wilkin had hinted strongly that defensive changes would be made following a 2-2 draw at Darlington, and the signing of Ammar Dyer heading into the weekend spelt that out further. Dyer made his debut, selected ahead of Jahdahn Fridye-Harper, and Jordan Piggott shifted back from midfield to replace Orrin Pendley, partnering Oliver Cawthorne.
The manager also rewarded Remi Walker and Dylan Allen-Hadley for their game-changing appearances from the substitutes’ bench at Darlington. Both scored in that County Durham draw and earned starting berths ahead of Ricardo Dinanga and Ola Lawal. Rhys Hilton also came back into the team to play wide on the right.
Moors were clearly set up to get the ball quickly to captain and centre forward Glen Taylor, and play from there, with Rob Ramshaw playing as a genuine number 10 and Corey McKeown and Cameron Salkeld tasked with providing the width.
Dan Rowe, another six-foot-plus defender, directed a header too high to trouble Brandon Hall from a free-kick, but it underlined the danger from set-pieces. Pleasingly, the Bucks appeared to take it on board, and they gave up very few similar opportunities.
Moors’ plan began to unravel in the face of the Bucks’ slicker ball movement, and Allen-Hadley clearly had too much pace for right-back Olly Dyson, albeit sometimes frustratingly caught offside.
Allen-Hadley tested Moors’ keeper Brad James, but saw no colleague in white sharp enough to get to the rebound. However, the breakthrough wasn’t far away.
In the 20th minute, Allen-Hadley and Adan George switched positions, and it paid off within seconds. Released down the centre by a ball through the Moors’ defence, Allen-Hadley seized on the chance, drew James from his line and then rounded him to the keeper’s right before slotting into an empty net.
Wilkin’s side had seen their strategy work, and continued to stretch the visitors. George found James’s gloves with a clever shot on the turn that lacked power, the Moors’ right being the chosen path to goal time and again.
Walker was not quite pulling the strings as hoped, but was playing his part, and his ball across the six-yard box from the right wasn’t read by George, his former Birmingham City Academy colleague. It was a moment that should have brought greater reward, and the lack of a second goal was one of the few irritations with an almost textbook first half.
James was equal to Jordan Cranston’s shot, low to his left and lacking real venom, but showed he was up to greater tasks when he stopped Khanya Leshabela’s rasping shot from 20 yards, Allen-Hadley the architect of the chance.
Moors had a renewed vigour after the break, and appeared keen to be a little more abrasive, but also to mix things up. The direct approach wasn’t abandoned, but they began to link up play in midfield on occasion and looked marginally better.
Allen-Hadley was keeping them on their toes, and he evaded a pair of defenders, breezing between them, before encountering a third, close to the goal-line. Allen-Hadley went down under challenge, but referee Samuel Bragg ruled it to be simulation, booking the Buck.
He was at it again soon after, earning a free-kick on the left that led to a downward header from Cawthorne that bounced up and wide to James’s left from a few yards out.
Dolan struck an opportunistic shot wide to Hall’s right from 25 yards, one that had the keeper scrambling to reach it as it curled wide, but it was a rare goal attempt from Moors.
There was less between the sides than there had been in the first half, and still only one goal between them. However, the halfway point of the second period brought a goal that helped the Bucks breathe more easily.
Leshabela’s industry in midfield is endearing him to Bucks’ fans, and in the 67th minute, his desire to press forced a turnover in possession. Leshabela quickly transitioned to attack, and his pass played the ball into space ahead of the sprinting George. The striker advanced and unleashed a powerful shot that arrowed past James to his left from 20-25 yards.
Cranston drew an agile leap from James to tip away a bullet of a shot the left-back had fired across him and towards the far top corner.
As the clock ran down, Wilkin refreshed his XI here and there and decided the game was safely enough in his team’s grasp to give a debut to Jamie Meddows. The Shropshire-based attacking midfielder, signed from Bromsgrove in the summer, has had to watch from the sidelines as he overcame a pre-season injury, but capped his debut by scoring with just his second touch.
Fellow substitute Charlie Williams forced a turnover on the left of a dispirited Moors defence and, as they panicked, Williams stayed calm. Although Bucks were queuing up for the chance, it was Meddows he picked out, and he gleefully rifled past James from close range to cap a hugely positive team display.
AFC Telford United (4-3-3): Hall, Dyer (Pendley 87), Cranston, Piggott, Cawthorne, Fletcher, Walker (Meddows 90), Leshabela, Hilton (Williams 86), George, Allen-Hadley (Dinanga 79). Subs not used: Ilesanmi, Lawal, Armson.
Spennymoor Town (4-4-2): James, Dyson, Rowe, Pollock, Jones, Heaney (Mondal 78), Dolan, McKeown (Samuels 71), Salkeld (Hancox 60), Ramshaw (Doherty 83), Taylor. Subs not used: Johnson, Hill.
Attendance: 1,276.
