AFC Telford United analysis: Bucks put up FA Cup fight but will feel they could have done more

The Bucks weren’t quite able to reach the heights they’ve shown themselves to be capable of, although the quality of the opposition may have been a factor.

There was plenty to be optimistic about as the Bucks headed for South London. Their hosts, from a division higher, appear to be in danger of losing their Step 1 status, having only been relegated from the EFL at the end of the 2023/24 season.

Luck always plays a role in a Cup run; a tie away from home to higher-ranked opposition wasn’t ideal, but to be up against a side with just a solitary league victory and a last-gasp FA Cup win over Farnham Town, from Step 3, gave cause for optimism.

Kevin Wilkin probably needed a few more stars to align and was unable to align all of his own stars in his starting eleven. Oliver Cawthorne’s ankle injury from the previous weekend failed to heal in time, and with fellow centre-half Orrin Pendley suffering a setback in his own recovery, his squad’s lack of real defensive depth bit hard.

In fairness, Jordan Cranston, who switched from full-back to partner Jordan Piggott, performed admirably, as did Jamie Meddows. The attack-minded midfielder filled in for Cranston, and neither let anyone down, prepared to do what the team needed of them.

Rhys Hilton took Meddows’ role on the right of striker Matty Stenson, and Ammar Dyer also returned on the right in place of Jid Fridye-Harper, those being the team’s two personnel changes.

Sutton made the better start to the game, enjoying more possession as the Bucks sat off them a little. Chris Agutter, the U’s manager, appeared aware of the Bucks’ defensive reshuffle, and David Ogbonna tested Meddows down the right. 

One of his incursions brought a dangerous free-kick position and an early booking for Cranston; he tossed the ball back in annoyance at referee Alex Chilowicz’s call, and the American official wasted no time in laying down a marker for any disrespect.

The Bucks began to get closer to the hosts when out of possession and, correspondingly, started to enjoy more of their own possession, as Sutton began to turn the ball over, perhaps betraying their lack of confidence.

Dyer, who appeared to be relishing the bigger stage, created his side’s first real opening, surging inwards and forwards from right back and then playing a searching ball inside full-back Aaron Jones. 

Charlie Williams sped onto it and into the box, opting to check back and shoot on his right rather than look for Stenson in the middle. Keeper Tommy Reid blocked his effort, and the moment was gone.

Wilkin’s side were starting to dictate, with Sutton’s team of athletes being made to pursue the ball as the Bucks started to move it around confidently. Khanya Leshabela and Remi Walker began to carry the ball and get into space between the defence and the midfield.

Sutton were restricted to the occasional set-piece threat, something the Bucks had been forewarned of. The combination of that awareness and the towering Josh Gracey in goal meant those opportunities yielded little.

Just before the thirty-minute mark, the Bucks went close again, and it was Reid who had to plunge to his right to turn away a rasping shot from Stenson from eighteen yards. The striker took the shot on instantly, Williams’ decoy run taking a defender away and allowing Stenson to race into the gap centrally and onto Cranston’s well-judged through ball. 

A corner was the only reward for their enterprise. The teams exchanged corner kicks to no significant effect before Leshabela was the next to warm Reid’s gloves, his twenty-yard shot struck hard but almost straight at the keeper.

The game’s opening goal arrived after forty minutes, and it was a rare, constructed move from Sutton that nudged them ahead. Left wing-back Junior Eccleston’s ball inside to Jayden Harris appeared to have been covered, but Harris showed a better touch than his lumbering style suggested, and he got past Alex Fletcher to cross low. 

The Bucks had been drawn to the danger, and Ogbonna, who had gained half a yard on Meddows, stuck out a leg to divert the ball past Gracey.

Sutton immediately sought to take the opportunity to kill any Bucks’ response as Reid received treatment for a tactical injury. Once play resumed, they appeared set to try and force a quick second; however, the Bucks didn’t lie down.

Walker flashed a shot wide from twenty-five yards to Reid’s left, and the keeper was then booked for taking too long over the restart. Sutton’s tactics betrayed their lack of confidence, and the Bucks soon earned a corner through another Dyer overlap, one that brought them another opportunity. Piggott battled for possession at the far post, Stenson got involved, and the moment ended when Fletcher stabbed the loose ball just over Reid’s crossbar.

Sutton had a degree of control at the break but was clearly somewhat edgy. Full-back Jones, booked for a shuddering challenge on Leshabela, had been walking a tightrope, manhandling the same player soon after but escaping censure, and Alex Woodyard replaced him.

Before the Bucks could settle back into their rhythm, they found themselves two goals adrift, and the goal, in the fiftieth minute, owed much to Sutton inviting the Bucks on and then breaking their press to counterattack. 

Lewis Simper led his colleagues into the Bucks’ half, slid Ogbonna into space outside and Meddows, and the sliding Ashley Nadesan turned in his inviting low ball at the far post. Wilkin’s side now had it all to do, and the manager quickly swapped Williams and Hilton for the more direct and powerful threats offered by Ola Lawal and Ricardo Dinanga.

They were going to have to take risks, and Gracey did superbly to slide in against Eccleston and push the ball away from the wing-back as he sought to score an almost carbon-copy effort to that of Nadesan.

Dinanga replied with a blocked shot, but the substitute wasn’t to be denied for long.

In the 64th minute, Fletcher’s ball to Dyer on the right invited the full-back to cross, first-time, and Stenson left the ball for the arriving Dinanga at the far post, who headed the ball down and in through the narrowest of gaps left by Reid.

The game was back in the balance, and the goal gave the Bucks the momentum they needed, and the handbrake came off, although still wary of Sutton’s counter-attack threat.

Whilst they showed energy and endeavour, the Bucks found they couldn’t open up the full-time outfit in the same way they had done to other teams on their Cup run.

Lawal was keen to make an impression, and he sent a curling, dipping shot just over Reid’s bar from twenty-five yards, Simper doing the same at the other end with a shot that Gracey was able to leave.

Dinanga and Lawal were providing a different set of problems, and Wilkin replaced the tiring Stenson for Adan George, with Jimmy Armson also introduced for Walker. They kept the ball moving well, but couldn’t find the penetration necessary, and although the ball spent much more time around the Sutton box, it was more hopeful than genuinely purposeful from the Bucks.

Cranston kept the tie alive in the eighty-third minute when another Sutton counterattack had the Bucks stretched. Piggot had to pull wide to try to neutralise substitute Brandon

Njoku. He cut into the box and then stopped the ball as he ran on, allowing Kai Jennings to shoot. His effort, aimed to Gracey’s left, was hooked away in flight by Cranston, alert to the danger.

As time ran out, a touch of desperation was inevitable. Dinanga was booked for simulation, going down under challenge in the penalty area too easily for Mr Chilowicz, who bizarrely failed to book a Sutton player for trying to buy a free kick at the other end. Piggott’s gesticulation towards the Sutton player showed what he thought of it.

Gracey denied Nadesan from another counterattacking surge, and a late corner earned by Dinanga saw Gracey signalled forward, but there was to be no headline-grabbing intervention from the keeper. Sutton saw the moment out, and although they’d shown lots of character, the Bucks were beaten.

Wilkin’s side will, or at least ought to have learnt a lot about themselves from their Cup run. They have displayed a desire to be enterprising and has shed much of the fear factor that perhaps inhibited them in the campaign’s early weeks. As a bare minimum, they are a competitive outfit, and they showed that; finding consistency and developing their effectiveness in both penalty areas is the Bucks’ next - and arguably more meaningful -destination.

Attendance: 1,575 (444 from Telford).

AFC Telford United (4-3-3): Gracey, Dyer, Meddows, Piggott, Cranston, Fletcher ©, Walker

(Armson 79’), Leshabela, Hilton (Lawal 57’), Stenson (George 79’), Williams (Dinanga 57’).

Sutton United 2-1 AFC Telford United by Rich Worton

Subs: (unused) Fridye-Harper, Rowe, Ilesanmi.

Cautioned: Cranston, Dinanga.

Sutton United: Reid, Jones (Woodyard 46’), Taylor, Pruti, Eccleston, Jennings, Muller (Tizzard

65’), Simper (Phipps 90’), Ogbonna (Boutin 70’), Harris (Njoku 65’), Nadesan.

Subs (unused): Aziaya, Crichlow, Dabre, Bell.

Cautioned: Jones, Reid, Eccleston, Phipps.

Referee: Alex Chilowicz.

Assistants: Andrew Aylott and Isabel Chaplin.

Fourth Official: James Hooper.