AFC Telford United preview: Bucks meet Bucks as Kevin Wilkin's side look to extend unbeaten run

Kevin Wilkin's side travel to namesakes Buxton in the National League North, the first team they are playing for the second time in the league after the disappointing 1-0 defeat at the SEAH Stadium in August.

Despite being down to 10 men, John McGrath's side left Shropshire with all three points when they met earlier in the season courtesy of Luke Brennan's 94th minute winner, leaving Wilkin 'really disappointed with the naivety' of his side.

However, four months and 17 games later Telford have made good progress, brought about by a lot of harsh lessons learned throughout the season, and Wilkin is confident his side are well placed to leave Silverlands with a result tomorrow.

"I think we're learning all the time, and we're on a reasonable run at the moment," he said. "I know we've had some draws in there that we could have turned into victories, but that's where we are and the most important thing is that we're taking strides towards where we want to be.

"We've improved since that [Buxton] game. We're hopefully a bit more settled and have a bit more of an understanding with each other, but I'm sure Buxton will have done exactly the same.

"It's another tough game, and it'll be a totally different game, which is a big challenge that we're really looking forward to.

"They're all difficult games and they all take a lot of winning, so it would be nice to get a result there."

Wilkin also insisted that his side are not heading to Derbyshire with revenge on their minds, despite the frustrating circumstances in which they were beaten in August.

"We're not going there with that in our minds," the Bucks boss said. "We've taken the learnings from it, and certainly we've learned from the way that we switched off for the last few minutes of that game.

"When you let your standards slip for whatever reason you can be punished, and too many players did exactly that to allow them a moment to win it.

"It ended up costing us, and equally we didn't take our chances when they came which is another thing we've had to learn from throughout the season."

Wilkin’s men picked up a first away league win of the season at Leamington last Tuesday, extending the Bucks unbeaten run in the league to five, and are now in search of back-to-back league wins on the road for the first time since October 2024.

 Telford hope to have Ricardo Dinanga available after a fortnight on the side lines with a gashed leg.

Dylan Allen-Hadley will likely miss out as part of an ongoing concussion protocol. The forward was substituted off in the first half against Altrincham having taken a bang to the head, and may be forced to sit the trip to Buxton out as a result.

Long-term absentees Orrin Pendley, David Solademi and Brandon Hall are still struggling with injuries.