AFC Telford United preview: Confident Bucks well placed to take the game to out-of-form King's Lynn
Ahead of Telford's clash with King's Lynn Town, Kevin Wilkin has agreed his side are in a much better place than they were ahead of the reverse fixture.
The sides played out a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the season at The Walks, but were perhaps fortunate to leave Norfolk with a point on an afternoon where they rode their luck at times and were grateful for some poor finishing from the hosts.
However, almost six months on Telford are odds-on favourites with some bookmakers after a run of one defeat in 11 games in all competitions, and Wilkin admitted confidence is much higher now amongst his players.
"We've evolved a lot since then, and I said at the time that the group still had a lot to learn about each other then," Wilkin recalled. "We brought a lot of players to the club in the summer and that was the first competitive game as a group, and when I look back at the personnel we've changed quite a lot since then.
"Things evolve, players learn and understand about one another and I need to learn and understand about them.
"It's about finding that balance in the team and I knew it would take a little bit of time, and now we're certainly in a better position now than we were on the opening day. We're more competitive and able to manage games better now."
While Telford have had a season of progress, King's Lynn have underperformed on pre-season expectations and currently sit 17th in the National League North.
Despite that lack of form though the Bucks boss was certain his side still have a difficult task on their hands tomorrow.
"They've had a managerial change and some personnel have moved on , so they seem to be in a bit of a transitional period," Wilkin said. "They're a full-time side and will have been harbouring ambitions of being in and around the play-offs and challenging for promotion, and it hasn't quite materialised in that way which is probably an indication of how close and competitive the division is.
"If I remember the game earlier in the season we were without the ball for large parts and weren't as competitive as I would have liked us to be.
"Things change and it's another tough game for us. You can meet teams at the right or the wrong time in football and I'm not necessarily saying we're meeting them at the right time now, you only really get the answer to that at the end of the game.
"There's always an expectation to win at home and rightly so, but we have to be respectful of the opposition that come here.
"We do look forward to playing at home, we've got fantastic support and the players enjoy playing in front of them.
"We've had a couple of good results and we're very much looking forward to Saturday. We want to make it a tough place for our opponents to come and hopefully we're taking steps in that direction."
