Pictures and analysis of Telford 0 Worcester 0

At the ninth time of asking since the Skrill Conference North season began, the Bucks finally managed to keep a clean sheet last night at home to Worcester City.

But the hatful of chances that went begging in what proved to be a fruitless search for the only goal of the game will be causing Watson some alarm.

Saturday's opponents in the FA Cup second qualifying round, Hednesford, certainly won't be fearing the firepower available at the New Bucks Head on that display.

Their manager, Rob Smith, and his assistant Chris Brindley both watched the Worcester game from the stands. Smith led Telford to the level they are at now, while Brindley was a popular Bucks player.

They have seen good and bad teams the club have produced down the years and the current offering, on current form, is somewhere in the middle. Being clinical hasn't been a strong point.

Watson's side put four past Colwyn Bay on Saturday but, thinking back, they spurned plenty of opportunities to make the score-line truly emphatic. That said, they are creating lots of chances.

This time, the Bucks were left to rue a hat-trick of misses in the second-half from Adam Farrell - the striker hitting the crossbar, post and having one cleared off the line.

The only moment of real note in the first-half came when Worcester full-back Graham Hutchison cleared Neill Byrne's header off the line for Telford on 21 minutes.

Danny Glover had also gone close to breaking the deadlock for the visitors on the half hour, his shot dropping agonisingly wide of the post.

Everything else fell short, was charged down or didn't quite come off for both sides, pretty much right from the start.

There were just three minutes on the clock when a ball from makeshift left-back Andy Owens put Robbie Booth into the clear, with the cross in missed by the head of Farrell.

In the 16th minute, Sean Clancy's ball in saw Telford captain Simon Grand take flight to fling himself at the ball, but he hooked the ball wide of the post.

Byrne cleared his lines by putting a dangerous-looking ball behind five minutes later, after Daniel Nti had intercepted a loose Mike Grogan clearance to make the delivery.

Worcester man mountain Exodus Geohaghon went into into referee Michael D'Aguilar's book, for a clumsy foul on Gray that left the Telford front-man in a heap.

Five minutes before half-time, a David Beckham-esque 50 yard ball from the unlikely boot from Owens went from left back to the right wing where Booth was waiting, but his touch was poor.

In the last minute of the first-half, a good cutback from Tony Gray found the onrushing Farrell on the edge of the box, but he miscued his effort through.

There was controversy just before the whistle as Byrne and Nti clashed with Worcester preparing to take a free-kick, with suggestions the visiting striker had used his elbow on the home defender.

The game exploded into life for a period after the break, with Telford rattling the woodwork twice in the space of four minutes as they battled to end the stalemate.

Clancy's cross three minutes after the restart was met by the head of Farrell, but the crossbar came to Worcester's rescue and they were left off again on 52.

It was Farrell who was denied for a second time, after the Bucks forward had nicked the ball off Worcester defender Shabir Khan and slotted it past goalkeeper Jose Veiga.

Veiga was on the floor and beaten but the ball struck the post and come back out, before Farrell hit the rebound back into the goalkeeper's midriff.

Two minutes, Nti continued to push his luck with a late challenge on goalkeeper Ryan Young, sparking an angry reaction from Grand and Byrne.

Substitute Matthew McGinn should have done better on 64 minutes after being found on the left by Grogan's cross-field pass, but he blasted wide of the near post.

Farrell couldn't believe his luck for a third time with 20 minutes to go, as former Telford favourite Phil Trainer hacked his goal-bound effort off the line.

Substitute Sean Cooke had deflected the ball into his path, as the winger got into the thick of the action in his first competitive appearance for the club after fracturing his leg.

Cooke was that busy that Glover felt the need to drag him back on 73 minutes, forcing referee D'Aguilar to produce a yellow card for a third time.

It could have even been Worcester who nicked it late on after Aaron Williams broke down the right to leave himself one-on-one with Young, the goalkeeper parrying his shot with six minutes left.

That chance aside, the visitors seemed happy to wind down the clock as they picked up a useful point on the road, which drew the ire of the hosts for their time-wasting.

In truth, Telford should have taken matters out of their hands long before then. On the balance of play, they were the better side and there's no doubt they produced the clear-cut chances.

They defended well, created scoring opportunities but lack the potency in front of goal to make the net bulge as it should have. The latter will have to change if they are to become a realistic force.

By Craig Birch