Analysis, pictures of Bradford PA 3 Telford 1

Watson had only ever been to the Horsfall Stadium once before the weekend, taking his Southport side in the first Conference North season of 2004-05.

Picture the scene of that day in February 2005 – Watson's men were storming towards the maiden Conference North title and were within 90 minutes of breaking a club record for consecutive wins.

Avenue were rock-bottom and going down, leaving only the most cock-eyed of optimists to predict what would happen next. One side were 3-0 up in 20 minutes – and it wasn't Watson's.

They lost 3-1 in the end, but it didn't overly dent their momentum as they later became champions.

Telford fans won't be so confident that will be the case for Watson and Co in 2013-14 if Saturday's events are anything to go by.

Watson had warned his players this would be no walk in the park and told them this is what life is all about in non-league's second tier.

The Skrill Conference North league flag hanging on top of the cemetery across the road should have rammed home another omen.

There was a cricket game going on behind the main stadium, as one of the pitches that are part of the Horsfall site took place a bit further up the hill.

And it was the Bucks who were left feling stumped by full-time, as they made it back-to-back defeats in a depressing manner for their travelling supporters.

The away side had led at the Horsfall Stadium through Adam Farrell, but James Knowles equalised before a goal from Nicky Boshell and a penalty from Richard Marshall left them well beaten.

Telford had threatened in the first quarter of an hour. Knowles nearly headed into his own net, trying to clear the danger from Matthew McGinn's long throw-in.

The breakthrough came on 15 minutes. Wes Baynes broke clear in space on the right wing, to put in a great cross that was met by the head of Farrell at the near post to nod the visitors ahead.

Farrell then was denied by the body of Avenue goalkeeper John Lamb on 18 minutes as Telford pressed forward, the home shot-stopper also seeing McGinn's low shot travel wide.

But Avenue took hold of the game and forced Ryan Young in the Bucks goal to parry away Paul Walker's shot from outside of the area on 25. Captain Nathan Hotte couldn't convert the rebound.

Three minutes later, the equaliser the home side had been threatening came, when Young came out through a ruck of bodies to catch a Hotte free-kick and missed it by an absolute mile.

The ball went behind his grasp and onto the head of Knowles, who reacted fastest to restore parity.

Just a minute later, Young pushed the ball away – shaving the post in process – from Alex Davidson's shot, after Walker's pass found him inside the box.

It was Baynes to the rescue for Telford four minutes before the break as he blocked Boshell's goal-bound effort, while Chib Chilaka also fired wide.

Boshell tried his luck from the edge of the box before half-time and a relatively tame effort slipped from Young's grasp, but he managed to gather the ball at the second attempt.

If Telford were abject in the first-half, they got worse after the break. Dan Preston had to make a vital block on 54 minutes to stop Hotte's shot inside the box.

Sean Clancy had been shown the yellow card a minute earlier for a late challenge on Hotte, as the away side battled to get forward.

Clancy then saw a promising ball sprayed out wide intercepted by Chilaka two minutes later, only for McGinn to chop him down for a second Bucks booking.

On 62 minutes, a blow Telford would never recover from came their way as the ball dropped to Boshell, with all of the defenders appealing for offside, in the box.

With the linesman's flag down, Boshell composed himself and finished past the onrushing Young to put Avenue into the lead for the first time.

With 20 minutes left, Telford threw on striker Andy Owens and winger Robbie Booth for defender Neill Byrne and attacker Sean Clancy, changing from a 5-3-2 to 4-4-2 in the search for an equaliser.

Telford then fluffed two great chances to equalise: McGinn went close before Tony Gray missed a header from six yards that should have hit the target.

And they spurned another couple of opportunities in the two minutes that preceded the killer goal, through substitutes Booth and Owens. Booth fired over, while Owens' effort was easy for Lamb.

And it was game over on 76 minutes when Davidson ran onto a ball over the top and took a touch to take it away from Young, whose outstretched arms tripped the Avenue striker up.

Young escaped with a booking but there was still a penalty to contend with and Marshall took the spot kick well, firing low to the left underneath the goalkeeper's dive to make it 3-1.

It could have been worse – Hotte blasted wide of the mark one minute into five of stoppage time as the visitors became the first side to lose at Avenue this season.

Most of the Telford fans had trudged out of the ground and were waiting by the coach to go home by the time of the full-time whistle, after watching their side go down without much of a fight.

The strange thing was that the team couldn't really be faulted despite losing at home the previous weekend, playing well in defeat against Harrogate Town.

They kept the same 5-3-2 formation on Saturday and it was nowhere near as effective, but that was mainly because the ball spent most of its time in the air. Time for changes? Don't bet against it.

By Craig Birch

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