AFC Telford United analysis: Bucks provide stunning encore to FA Cup goal-fest

With their confidence high, victory over a Scarborough side on a 10-game unbeaten run was always a possibility. However, to not only win but deliver a performance with verve, energy, and grit was probably more than even fervent Bucks’ fans could have dreamt of.

Two-goal midfielder Remi Walker was an instrumental figure, netting the match-winning second goal and the insurance of a third. Those two strikes were the filling in a four-goal sandwich, with Jamie Meddows quickly cancelling out Luca Colville’s opener and Ricardo Dinanga getting the first goal of his second spell at the club since returning on loan from Shrewsbury Town.

Every Buck contributed to a result which, in context, was arguably more impressive than the 6-0 victory at Darlington. 

The visitors made a marginally better start to the game, and it was evident that Jonathan Greening’s team would seek to absorb pressure, invite the Bucks on and then counter-attack. 

It took until 15 minutes into proceedings before Josh Gracey and his Seadogs counterpart, Ryan Whitley, were more seriously tested, and it was Whitley who was the busier. 

Charlie Williams sent a shot goalwards, but found Whitley’s gloves, a familiar scenario in the opening hour for the Bucks.

Khanya Leshabela, once again, was the springboard who launched the Bucks forward, and he sent a deflected effort into Whitley’s grasp. 

Referee Scott Henry’s decision to award an indirect free-kick and book Jordan Cranston for dissent following the defender’s sliding challenge to deny Stephen Walker certainly tested the home fans’ tolerance. Cranston’s challenge toe-poked the ball away from the Seadogs’ forward, but Gracey gathered, and the official assessed it to be a back-pass. 

The Bucks were on red alert, the offence occurring little more than 10 yards from the goal; Lewis Maloney was teed up for a hard strike on target, but his effort was deflected for a corner.

The hosts had the better opportunities in the 15 minutes that remained of the half.

Jordan Piggott, anticipating the play well after a Bucks’ attack was cleared to the edge of the box, found Whitley’s gloves yet again. 

Meddows warmed Whitley’s gloves before colleague Walker had a shot blocked.

A slick move for the visitors brought a corner, and the opening goal with 62 minutes played.

The Seadogs’ size made set-pieces a real danger, and so it proved. Alex Purver’s delivery from the left brought chaos at the far post, and Luca Colville pounced to score from no more than a yard or two.

It felt like a pivotal moment, but the Bucks’ response spoke hugely for the character and belief that Wilkin’s side is developing.

Barely two minutes separated the goals. Walker collected a clearance on the left of the box, moved the ball to Meddows, and in one slick movement, he turned away from a defender at his back and rifled a rising shot past Whitley via the underside of the crossbar.

In the 73rd minute, a flowing move from the Bucks’ half cut the visitors open with surgical precision. Leshabela started it, and it was continued by Cranston, Matty Stenson, Meddows on to Walker. The Seadogs were all at sea as he advanced on Whitley and dispatched a shot wide to his left to find the net. 

Within five minutes, the Bucks had a third goal. Leshabela was the architect, carrying the ball deep into Seadogs territory and exchanging passes with Dinanga and Cranston, getting it back and darting into the box. Adan George, who had replaced Stenson, touched the ball inside to Walker, and the result was unerringly similar.

The Bucks showed their growing maturity by recognising that the Seadogs could do little without the ball, and they starved them of it in a spell of possession that brought shouts of “olé, olé” from the home crowd. 

A fourth Bucks goal applied the estocada, the fatal blow, and it was Dinanga who got to enjoy his first goal back at the club following his loan move from Shrewsbury. 

Fletcher sent the tireless Leshabela on his way again, and after gaining 30 yards, he gave the ball to Dinanga. The tiring visitors parted as the winger cut into the box, and Dinanga’s low shot, far from a clean strike, foxed Whitley, beating the big keeper inside his near post.

The final scoreline would have felt scarcely believable half an hour earlier, but for a second week in succession, the Bucks had sensed their moment was coming, and they were unrelenting when it arrived. 

That they delivered it in such thrilling style backed up Wilkin’s enthusiasm for a group of young players he is clearly enjoying working with.

Bucks: Gracey, Dyer, Cranston, Piggott, Cawthorne, Fletcher, Walker (Hilton 89), Leshabela (Rowe 90+2), Meddows (Armson 90+4), Stenson (George 78), Williams (Dinanga 68). Subs not used: Fridye-Harper, Lawal.