Analysis: Not Bard! Telford set the stage for dramatic finish

Like all the best dramas, its two protagonists delivered a range of contrasting emotions.

The Bucks struck an early blow. Their adversaries then tried to wrest back control but fell short, and the performance concluded dramatically, as the away side scored twice more in injury time to establish a margin of victory that their dominance had warranted.

Kevin Wilkin’s side were not word-perfect. They should have been comfortable in this game much sooner than they were, which would perhaps have given Wilkin another opportunity to replace some of his leading men with their understudies.

There were plenty of missed chances, but if you want to put a positive spin on that, it would surely be the sheer volume of chances the Bucks created. Having acknowledged that his side didn’t score enough goals, Wilkin has now seen them score nine in their last three matches.

The home side takes their nickname of The Bards from Shakespeare himself; however, he would have been left dismayed at the way Stratford fluffed their lines against Wilkin’s well-rehearsed Bucks.

Wilkin made one change to the starting XI who defeated Kettering Town 4-0 a week earlier. Illness meant that he took no chances with Kyle Storer, who missed training on Thursday. He dropped to the substitutes bench, replaced by Sam Whittall.

Stratford boasted one of the best home records in the Southern Central Premier going into this game. Nuneaton Borough’s resignation from the division had wiped their only home defeat from their playing record, a game in which the Bucks’ Matty Stenson had recorded a hat-trick, all from the penalty spot, no less.

The Bards also possess a sharpshooter, in forward Callum Ebanks, but the Bucks’ central defensive duo of Fraser Kerr and Orrin Pendley kept him under control, allowing Ebanks just one clear chance.

Bucks’ followers, and Wilkin himself, went into this contest expecting to be tested by Stratford and would have been thrilled to have the boost of an early goal.

There were barely three minutes on the clock when the Bucks were awarded a free-kick on the right, too far for a goal attempt but close enough to test home keeper Callum Smith. It was a test Smith failed, with dire consequences for his side.

The keeper rose well above a crowd of players and looked to have made a commanding claim of Nathan Fox’s aerial delivery; however, Smith let the ball slip from his hands as he started his journey to earth, and as it spilt loose, the Bucks pounced.

Ricardo Dinanga didn’t make the cleanest of contacts from 12 yards, but the ball struck the inside of Smith’s right post and rebounded into the net off covering Bards defender Paul McCone, a former Bucks player.

All the perfumes of Arabia couldn’t sweeten Smith’s handling error.

Wilkin had only lamented recently that his side doesn’t often score “scruffy goals”, and the slightly scuffed shot and touch of good fortune made it a goal where the aesthetics were trumped by the value. It was somehow in keeping with the early stages of the game, with the teams struggling to assert any dominance, not helped by a strengthening wind.

The next opportunity was to be the best opportunity the Bards created all afternoon. A cross from the left picked out the mobile Ebanks in between two defenders, and he powered a header at goal, but straight into the arms of keeper Brandon Hall. Either side of Hall and the game’s complexion could have changed.

The Bucks responded with a similar chance of their own less than a minute later, Sam Whittall meeting a cross but the presence and touch of the ball by a defender meant he couldn’t direct it home.

After 17 minutes the Bucks ought to have extended the lead. Bucks’ midfielder Jordan Piggott, celebrating his 25th birthday, was afforded the room to locate Gibson to his left in the 18-yard box, but Gibson’s finish let him down and he cleared the crossbar with Smith floundering.

Stratford’s experienced core is chiefly in defence, with McCone and Chris Hussey, but too often their efforts resembled a comedy of errors as the Bucks were repeatedly given too much space in which to work.

The chances kept on coming, and when the understatedly excellent Fox broke up the Bards’ possession, he released the fleet-footed Dinanga. With Gibson running centrally and only McCone against the two Bucks, Dinanga’s attempt to find his colleague struck the defender, who gratefully cleared the danger.

The one-way traffic abated briefly as Ebanks was invited to race onto a good through ball. Hall was moving into position to try and close down Ebanks’ angles when the imperious Pendley launched himself into a sliding block to deflect Ebanks’ effort away from goal.

The Bards’ Jack Storer, once a Bucks triallist, appeared to feel the way back into the contest was through leaving a bit on the away side’s players in physical contact, and he got a stern talking to from referee Neal Templey after flooring Brown; he escaped a booking, although his assistant manager, former Bucks hero Lee Vaughan, did collect one for arguing Storer’s case too strongly.

More lax home defending saw a Dinanga shot on the turn deflected up and away from the goal, while Bucks’ skipper Kerr cleared a dangerous free-kick away from the heading on the oncoming McCone. The resulting corner brought an off-target shot from Callum Coyle as the Bards continued to toil.

McCone went unceremoniously into the back of former Halesowen teammate Piggott, leaving him on the turf but with no foul given. Piggott was soon back on his feet, galloping through the Bards’ high defensive line onto a Brown through ball but being ruled offside before he came off worst in a collision with keeper Smith.

Three minutes into an additional five at the end of the half, the Bucks suffered a real blow when Fox was forced to hobble out of the action. The left-wing-back, such an important component of Wilkin’s side, had been caught two or three times by ‘enthusiastic’ challenges and he was replaced by Byron Moore.

There was still time for one more half-chance, one that was snuffed out by Pendley when he recovered Hall’s error to clear away from Ebanks; the forward was poised but Pendley’s diligence meant the ball never reached him.

The second half began with a Bards flurry, one where Hall showed his alertness to smother a shot drilled in towards his near post; however, anyone thinking that was to signal a siege on the Bucks’ goal would have been well off target. Immediately the Bucks replied, and Gibson’s measured shot from the edge of the box arrowed over and across Smith but rebounded to safety off the crossbar to the keeper’s left.

Pendley was booked, for holding onto the ball to prevent a quick throw after being shoved into touch by Ebanks. The Bucks then had penalty appeals turned down after a clatter of bodies between the keeper, defenders and various Bucks forwards saw Piggott tumble just inside the area.

Just before the hour mark, things began to heat up. A coming together between Brown and defender Alex Worley saw the Bards’ man seek to remonstrate with Brown for what he felt was a dive. Brown may have gone to ground a little easily, but Worley’s anger probably reflected his frustrations with his team’s poor showing as much as it did his annoyance with Brown. The pair were both shown yellow cards.

Stratford made two changes, bringing on giant defender Liam Daly and forward Tom Hewlett for Dan Vann and Coyle.

Minutes later, Dinanga became the second Buck to see his shot beat Smith but not the frame of the goal, his shot not coming down quickly enough.

The Bucks’ defence withstood a couple of corners and then two more Bards received cards, the substitute Hewlett for a late challenge and Storer for catching Brown in the face with a stray but not wholly innocent flail of his arm. Storer, who has a reputation for playing close to and occasionally over the line of what is acceptable, was soon replaced by his manager, Gavin Hurren.

The Bards were having to take more risks, and their higher defensive line was hugely inviting to the Bucks, especially Brown, who knew that his marker, Worley, was now on a tightrope following their clash.

The Bucks began to exploit the situation and after 79 minutes, the silky and efficient Moore stole possession and sent Brown in behind Worley in the inside right channel. Brown saw the whites of Smith’s eyes before shooting, crashing the ball off the bar to Smith’s left, and from the resulting loose ball, Smith produced a fine save to turn aside Gibson’s shot.

Dinanga then turned the ball over the bar from another counter-attack, unable to convert inside the six-yard box from Brown’s low ball, and the thought began to nag that despite being largely overwhelmed, the chance was still there for the Bards to steal a point.

At that point, both teams had their momentum stalled by a troubling incident. Referee Templey appeared to feel Hall was time-wasting and showed him a yellow card, but it appeared that the keeper was trying to draw attention to alleged abuse aimed at Pendley by a spectator.

Bucks skipper Kerr stood up for his colleague, making his views known to a spectator thought to have been involved, and the officials then conferred and asked for stewards to be sent to the area. Pendley was undoubtedly annoyed but kept his composure admirably.

Kerr was soon literally using his head, getting a whack on the jaw when making a brave clearing header, but the upshot of the incident was 8 minutes of additional time.

Any fears the Bucks may be the main characters in a Shakespearean tragedy were soon to be dispelled. In the fifth minute of added time, another counter-attack against a tiring and exposed Bards’ defence saw Brown seal the points, racing on to Walker’s pass and dodging a defender before drawing Smith towards him and then smashing the ball past him decisively. The noisy Bucks fans to his right celebrated, but their team weren’t done. Two minutes later, substitute Matty Stenson capitalised on more wretched defensive work by the home side, who fell victim to a quickly taken free kick. Stenson raced onto the pass through the defence, keeper Smith careered past him fully 10-15 yards outside his box and Stenson kept his head to steer the ball into an empty net.

It had taken a long time, but Wilkin’s side had a margin of victory to match the difference in

levels between the sides on the day, and the two swapped places in the table as a result.

Measure for measure, it had undoubtedly been the Bucks’ day.

Telford: Hall, Myles, Fox (Moore 45+3), Piggott, Pendley, Kerr, Walker, Whittall, Dinanga, Gibson (Stenson 90+3), Brown. Subs not used: Webster, Storer.

Attendance: 1,175