Report: Curzon Ashton 0-8 AFC Telford United: Bucks hit goal trail as Nash thrashed by eight

Any fans of Curzon Ashton attempting Dry January will likely have fallen off that particular wagon if they made it through to the ninetieth minute of this contest.

It flatters the ‘Nash’ to refer to this game as a contest; Mark Bradshaw’s outfit, comfortably a mid-table side at the very least, turned in a shocker of a performance and could realistically have conceded double figures.

The hosts were unexpectedly wretched, but the Bucks' performance was irresistible, and those two factors combined to create the conditions for a staggering away victory for Kevin Wilkin’s side.

There was much to like about the way the Bucks went about their work. Offensively, they were relentless, unceasing in their desire to add to their tally. 4-0 ahead at the half-time break, they didn’t slacken off; despite utilising their substitutes to give them valuable playing time, the Bucks continued in the same vein to rack up four further goals.

Illness and injury denied Wilkin the chance to play his best starting eleven at Kidderminster on December 30th , the last time the Bucks were in action. With two Saturday postponements giving them time to recover and reinvigorate, the manager made three changes, with his first choice centre-back pairing, Oliver Cawthorne and Jordan Piggott, returning.

That freed Jamie Meddows to play on the right-hand side of striker Matty Stenson, and Dylan Allen-Hadley was also restored to the eleven, on Stenson’s left.

Ed Ikpakwu, Rhys Hilton and Ricardo Dinanga were the trio who made way.

The question on many minds, including Wilkin’s, was whether any rustiness from their lay-off might impact their performance. The answer was a resounding ‘no’, as the Bucks hit the ground running.

Their intent was clear, and within the first two minutes, Meddows curled a shot wide from the right edge of the penalty area, stepping inside onto his left foot but unable to find the bottom-right corner of Callum Hawkins’ net.

Another opportunity followed swiftly, Stenson’s lofted ball to the far post after beating his man on the right being just too high for Allen-Hadley, glancing off the top of his head.

Despite setting the tempo against lethargic hosts, one area for improvement in the Bucks has been Wilkin’s urging to seize their moments in matches. They were about to show that the lesson hadn’t been brushed aside.

In the twelfth minute, more good movement opened a channel for Remi Walker on the left of the box. Walker aimed, and his shot beat Hawkins, dipping and rattling off the underside of the bar – to safety? Nowhere in the six-yard box is safe if you take your eyes off Stenson, and as the Nash dithered, the striker nipped in to nod home over the prostrate Hawkins, vain Curzon appeals for offside going unheard.

With the goal their opening enterprise deserved, the Bucks kept their foot to the floor, and in just over a quarter of an hour that followed, they had the game won. Stenson headed a presentable chance over Hawkins’ bar within a minute or so, but in the seventeenth minute, the lead doubled.

The home side’s defence was pedestrian for much of the ninety minutes, and when the Bucks cut through again, Allen-Hadley sent a low finish across Hawkins to the keeper’s left, finding the far corner from 8-10 yards out.

Hawkins was perhaps the only Curzon player who could take much pride in his performance, continually exposed by those in front of him. The Nash midfield and defence parted like the Red Sea as Khanya Leshabela collected the ball, advanced, and was invited to shoot by the retreating rearguard.

Leshabela’s aim was true, and he fired his first Bucks’ goal from the edge of the box, past Hawkins’ despairing dive to his right.

That goal came a minute after Allen-Hadley’s, and there was no prospect of a ceasefire for the stunned hosts. Leshabela, the Bucks’ only ever-present player this season, had waited thirty-one games for his first goal, but only had to wait just under ten minutes for his second.

Leshabela was the architect, again advancing through midfield, with the hosts’ Alex Curran simply giving up the chase, emblematic of the lack of fight being offered. Leshabela touched the ball off to Walker on his right, and his left-footed shot was blocked in front of Hawkins, but fell to Leshabela, who put the ball over a grounded Hawkins from close range for the fourth goal.

The travelling supporters who had made the journey up the M6 were giddy with what they were witnessing, whilst Curzon were disoriented.

Although they didn’t quite match that triple salvo in the remaining minutes of the half, the Bucks did have further chances. Walker fired one into the side netting to Hawkins’s right, then was too ambitious with an angled free-kick, awarded when the hosts’ Jordan Richards earned the game’s first booking, felling namesake Jordan Cranston inches from the left edge of the eighteen-yard box.

Josh Gracey, who had been called into action to make one stop from Curran’s advance and shot, would have been struggling to stay warm, but Cian Flannery’s shot, claimed as a deflection off Ammar Dyer, earned a corner for the Nash.

That gave Gracey some company in his six-yard box, and the Nash’s Chris Stokes looked as hapless in attack as he had in defence when the ball reached him from the corner.

Stokes fluffed his contact, and Meddows cleared to launch a counter-attack that almost brought a fifth. Walker, given free rein to carry the ball up the right, found Stenson, and his shot on the run was turned away by Hawkins, valiant but again left to face down the Bucks single-handed by colleagues who lacked the desire to run, work hard and limit the Bucks’ chances.

A similar second half doesn’t often follow a first half of such dominance by one team. The expectation would have been that the Nash, pride wounded and with four half-time substitutions, would be more competitive in the second period; however, manager Mark Bradshaw’s changes suggested those who’d watched from the bench until the interval were just as stunned as their colleagues.

Within five minutes of the restart, Dyer’s advance up the right had the Nash backing off, and Hawkins had to fingertip Meddows’ almost casual shot towards his top-left corner.

It was a stay of execution, as from Cranston’s right-wing corner, the hosts were unreactive and stood watching as Stenson ran, jumped and nodded the ball over Hawkins for number five.

That prompted differing reactions. The Nash’s frustration, simmering, looked like boiling over when the usually combative but bizarrely ineffective centre-forward Jimmy Spencer earned a booking for an off-the-ball challenge that left Cawthorne in pain on the deck.

Spencer is also the Curzon captain, and his actions were a telling insight. Wilkin had seen enough to feel the game was won, and Stenson was withdrawn, replaced by Ola Lawal.

Gracey beat away a Curran shot as the Nash responded briefly, but it was reminiscent of when the lights flicker in a power cut, before being plunged into darkness again.

Joel Amado was booked for a crude foul on Walker, catching the midfielder late after he’s sent Meddows into space on the right. The attack ended with a Bucks corner kick, referee Ben Wyatt playing a good advantage, keeping tabs on central defender Amado, and showing him the yellow card as he prepared to defend the set-piece.

The Bucks had slackened off and hadn’t scored for twelve minutes, but put that right when Walker’s advance down the left looked set to give Lawal a scoring chance. Walker’s pull-back was behind Lawal, but perfect for Meddows, who brought the ball under his control and stroked a left-footed finish past Hawkins and the crowd in front of him, finding the bottom-right corner from fifteen yards.

The Bucks’ heavy schedule is likely to call upon all members of the squad, and Jimmy Armson and Charlie Williams replaced Walker and Allen-Hadley for the final half-hour, soon supplemented by Rhys Hilton, who replaced Meddows.

Lawal didn’t have to wait too long for his moment. Beaten to a cross by Hawkins a few minutes earlier, in the seventy-fifth minute, he propelled himself forwards to meet Cranston’s left-wing cross and directed the ball past Hawkins to his left, again finding the corner with precision.

Ricardo Dinanga replaced Leshabela, and Cranston collected the Bucks’ only booking before Wilkin’s side found an eighth, in the eighty-third minute. Turning possession over had been the key all afternoon, the Bucks too quick in transition, and they did so again, setting up a shooting chance for Armson. The veteran midfielder aimed for Hawkins’ left, but a huge deflection of Amado took the ball into the open net to the keeper’s right.

Hawkins’ weight had already shifted to the wrong side, and he was unable to recover. Armson’s celebration was almost apologetic.

There was still time for the emptiest of consolation goals for the hosts, but Ben Darby’s close-range effort was easily smothered by Gracey, who was probably troubled more by a Dyer clearance that rebounded towards goal a minute or so later, keeping Gracey on his toes.

Referee Wyatt ended proceedings bang on the ninety minutes, frustrating the Bucks, who clearly felt there was time for a ninth goal. That in itself will probably please Wilkin; that his side wasn’t content and saw the opportunity for more.

The celebrations with a deliriously happy away following allowed Curzon to disappear quickly, abandoning Hawkins to thank the sparse home support on his own, a metaphor for the afternoon.

AFC Telford United (5-3-2): Gracey, Dyer, Cranston, Piggott, Cawthorne, Fletcher ©, Walker(Armson 63’), Leshabela (Dinanga 78’), Meddows (Hilton 70’), Stenson (Lawal 55’), Allen-Hadley (Williams 63’)

Subs: (unused) Fridye-Harper, Ikpakwu.

Curzon Ashton: (3-5-2): Hawkins, Sobowale (Ezennolim 46’), Stokes, Amado, Richards,Barton (Stobbs 46’), Darby, Curran, Flannery (C. Weston 46’), Spencer, Holmes (T. Weston46’).

Subs (unused): Connolly, Olofuwobi.Cautioned: Richards, Spencer, Amado.

Referee: Ben Wyatt.