Preview: AFC Telford Simon Grand sets target to remain in first team
AFC Telford United captain Simon Grand wants to carry on being an ever-present for the club – after spending last month staving off a potential spell on the sidelines.
The Bucks skipper and goalkeeper Ryan Young are the only two players to play every minute of every competitive fixture for Liam Watson's side this season.
But Grand suffered a bout of mild pneumonia during a stop-start October in which Telford only completed two fixtures, an away win against Histon and a victory at home to North Ferriby United.
The 29-year-old managed to see out both games but felt slightly off the pace in last weekend's 4-2 defeat at Stockport County.
Tuesday's 1-1 draw at Brackley Town was much more like at full pelt for Grand and Co and the man with the armband is acting as one of the cornerstone's for the march forward.
He said: "I don't want to miss any game, that's the way I am. Me and 'Youngy' are the only ever-presents in the team and I am lucky that's still the case after October.
"Having just the two games might have done me good. My daughter had bronchitis and I ended up with mild pneumonia, which wasn't part of the illness that was going around the squad.
"I missed the friendly at Chester and training but I felt fit at Stockport last weekend. We were unbeaten for the whole of October – and we only played two games!
"After a break, it takes a while to get used to the pace of games and I think Stockport was a blip. We do seem to have the odd one, but it was good to get that out of our systems on Tuesday."
After two away days, it's back to the New Bucks Head for three consecutive home games, culminating in an FA trophy tie next Saturday.
Tomorrow's visit of Stalybridge Celtic and Tuesday's arrival of Vauxhall Motors come first in the Skrill Conference North, with the hosts protecting a three-match unbeaten run at home in the league.
Grand is still waiting for Telford to properly click into gear and believes they have a potential to 'do a Kidderminster', who nearly won the league above last season despite losing their first five games. He said: "This is a big month for us and we have a run of three home games now to kick on.
"If we can win those games it would put us in a great position.
"We need to put a marker down for home form in this league.
"Take the FA Cup defeat to Hednesford Town away and our home form has been solid. You look at what Kidderminster did last season and it's hard to stop momentum.
"There's no reason why we can't do that. We have got the team, squad and support from the fans to be a real threat.
"Maybe that point on Tuesday could kick-start something. We may look back at that as the start of something for us."
Tomorrow's visitors Stalybridge are the only full-time side in the division, choosing to employ young players on relatively low wages.
But Grand insists they won't beat the Bucks for fitness, saying: "They are full-time, so you would expect them to be fit and organised.
"But there shouldn't be much of a difference. We don't really look at ourselves as part-time.
"It should be a good test for us. Stalybridge like to play football and that could, ironically, make it easier for us, rather than teams who come to shut up shop."
