AFC Telford told they have to improve

Assistant boss Mike Davies admitted AFC Telford's performance in last night's 1-0 defeat at Stourbridge was 'not acceptable' – but believes performances will improve as the team builds towards the start of the new Blue Square Bet Premier season.

The Bucks were undone by Sean Geddes' curling free-kick five minutes before half time and they were then unable to find an equalising goal against lower-league opponents.

The game was Telford's second pre-season fixture, following Saturday's Shropshire Senior Cup victory over Market Drayton.

Davies said the result of the game was not important but the performance and the side's ball retention had been disappointing.

"The result wasn't that important to us. I think the performance was disappointing by our standards," he said.

"We have had a physical (training) session Monday night. We worked the boys very hard. We can hide behind that but we are not going to.

"By our standards, even with a good run-out on Monday, it is not acceptable to turn up and play the way we did so we're disappointed.

"Hopefully you will see a bit more of a reaction and our ball retention will be better."