"The lads didn't feel sorry for themselves" - AFC Telford United boss on thrilling home victory

The Bucks backed up a maiden success of the campaign over Spennymoor Town on Saturday by edging a 3-2 thriller against Peterborough Sports that saw them rise to 12th in the fledgling National League North standings.

But even the 3-2 scoreline does not tell the whole story as Telford played without a regular goalkeeper for almost the entire match - with midfielder Jimmy Armson replacing the injured Brandon Hall in the sticks - and had a man sent off in the second half as well.

Wilkin said: “The way we went about our work after losing Brandon so early and Jimmy having to go in there… the one thing you say is we've got to protect Jimmy and not allow them shots and moments and with the greatest respect, Jim's gone in there and done a brilliant job for us overall.

"It's not easy; he’s faced with a guy that’s caught hold of the shot well and it's gone between his legs, and could have knocked the stuffing out of us, but it didn't.

"The rest of the lads didn't feel sorry for themselves. They got on with the job and really forced all the issues and some of the play in the first half was fantastic.”

Theo Williams fired Sports ahead almost instantly, but that appeared just to fuel the Bucks’ fire.

They dominated the rest of the half, Armson barely called into action apart from one catch from a cross, and Remi Walker drilled in from the edge of the box to tie the game up in the 10th of 11 added minutes at the end of the half.

Wilkin felt his side deserved more than parity: “We should have been ahead at half-time, really, no doubt about it. Moment after moment after moment, they keep coming and the goalie’s making saves, we hit the bar… we really should have taken the game away from them by half-time.

"Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but we got ourselves back in it. Remi keeps going and finds a brilliant moment for us, and then another good one in the second half.

"Adan again works really, really hard and gets a third for us, and then, the game's turned on its head again with just an absolutely... yeah, it’s probably good that I'm at a loss for words to describe the moment.”

As Wilkin alluded to, Walker struck another skidding shot from distance past Peter Crook to put the Bucks 2-1 ahead before the hour, and then striker Adan George netted, stabbing a shot under pressure past Crook, the ball holding up on a rain-soaked surface but finding the corner.

Wilkin’s annoyance stemmed from referee Ben Wyatt’s dismissal of defender Jordan Piggott for a foul on Josiah Dyer, leading to a penalty kick.

Piggott, already on a booking, departed with 10 minutes remaining, and Elliott Whitehouse converted the penalty, narrowly beating stand-in keeper Armson.

“I've seen it back and if you're sending people off and giving penalties for that, we're in a difficult place because there's nothing in it," added Wilkin. "Credit to the boys, they keep going and they dig in for one another.

"The subs get off the bench and work really hard and keep us fresh. They stay well organised and Jimmy handles it really, really well and we get through and it was no less than we deserved. We certainly deserved all three points there.

"We could have had more goals, should have had more goals. It would have been a travesty if we hadn't taken all three points.”

Hall’s injury was still being assessed late into the evening at hospital after a kick on the left wrist from Peterborough Sports’ captain Mark Jones left him without feeling and unable to continue, so Wilkin was unable to assess whether he may need to recruit a back-up before Saturday’s trip to Chorley.

The boss said: “Yeah, I think the guy kicked him on his wrist and he couldn't get his glove on. He couldn't slide his hand into the glove.

"Look, it's unfortunate. We don't carry a second goalkeeper. I kind of trust in two or three of them in there that we've got that they can go in should we need to, and you know, it’s maybe something to look at moving down the line, but yeah, we'll see how bad it is for Brandon.

"Hopefully it's not as bad as we fear, but we just wish him well and hopefully he mends pretty soon.”