Sinton hopes to strengthen Bucks with international signing

Boss Andy Sinton is close to strengthening his table-topping AFC Telford United squad - revealing he is awaiting international clearance for a mystery target.

The Bucks beat struggling Redditch 3-1 yesterday to move above Alfreton at the top of the Blue Square Bet North, albeit having played three games more than the Derbyshire side.

But Sinton is not resting on his laurels and revealed he has already agreed terms with an experienced player who has just returned to the country.

"We've got someone who comes with a really, really good pedigree," said Sinton. "He's got hundreds of games as a professional under his belt.

"He's heard a lot of good things about Telford, he's just come back from abroad and wants to be a part of it.

"I don't want to announce his name because we haven't got international clearance just yet."

On jumping from third to first place, the Bucks boss added: "It's psychologically quite nice to go into the new year on top of the league.

"We're there to be shot at and one or two teams have games in hand — but they need to get points and there will be a fixture backlog.

"I was delighted with them in the first half," he said.

"We hadn't played for 17 days and training had been interrupted. I thought the game got a bit flat but we'd done enough."

Sinton was also paid tribute to the dozens of volunteers who made it possible for the game to go ahead by shifting tonnes of snow and ice off the pitch.

"If I was a League club not a million miles away from here I'd be a little bit embarrassed because AFC Telford United can get a game on whereas there's some clubs who have cried off," he said.

"That's a credit to the volunteers, the board and everyone who worked to get this game on."

By CHRIS HUDSON