AFC Telford vs Lowestoft - Match preview

Kevin Wilkin has said his side are ‘not good enough’ to be complacent ahead of their meeting with Lowestoft Town tomorrow.

After losing ground in the Southern Central Premier title race last weekend Telford know only a win will do against the already-relegated Trawler Boys.

And while Wilkin insisted he does not feel complacency has been an issue for his side this season, that is only because they have dropped too many points against ‘lesser’ opposition.

“No (complacency) hasn’t been an issue, and I don’t think we’re that good that we could ever be complacent if the truth be told,” the Bucks boss said. “There’s never been any evidence to me that we’re good enough to let complacency creep in, so absolutely no it’s not something I’ve seen.

“Some of the teams that we’ve dropped points to would indicate exactly that, so complacency has never been in my thinking nor is it something I’d accept from any of our players.

“One thing we can’t allow is for any complacency to creep into our game, and if we do what we’ve been doing for quite some time now I’d like to think we should have enough to win the game.”

While a home clash against a side already relegated could be seen as a chance for the Bucks to collect a statement victory and performance, the Telford boss played down the importance of a dominant showing, instead saying his side remain focused on winning by any means necessary.

“I don’t see (statement victories) in that way. I’ll take nothing for granted, because we’ve played at home against certain teams this season and not been able to overcome them, and people will look at that now and think we should’ve done,” Wilkin said. “Whatever it takes to engineer a win, that’s what we’re all about.”

He added: “Whether that comes about comfortably or not I’m not really bothered. What I am bothered about is making sure we win games, and while it’s a bonus if it comes with a degree of comfort we know how hard it is regardless of who you play in this division.

“They were 2-0 up against Bedford last weekend, so if they can do that to the league leaders there’s every reason to respect what they’re about, and when we played them earlier in the season it was far from easy.

“We got ourselves into a good position quite early on in the game, but we only just managed to stumble our way over the line in the end.

Wilkin also revealed that Telford will have centre back Orrin Pendley available for selection tomorrow afternoon despite his red card at Banbury last weekend.

The centre back received a one-match ban for denying a goal scoring opportunity, but with Good Friday’s game taking place before the ban comes into effect Telford will be able to name him in their squad against Lowestoft.

Pendley will therefore be forced to sit out of Easter Monday’s clash with fellow play-off chasers Halesowen Town.

Bucks:

Hall (GK)

Fridye-Harper (RB)

Pendley (CB)

Cawthorne (CB)

Cranston (LB)

Rowe (DM)

Piggott CM)

Walker (CM)

Armson (AM)

Lawal (ST)