AFC Telford United preview: Play-off chasing Bucks host Chorley looking to regain top seven spot

The Bucks were without a fixture at the weekend due to their would-be opponents Macclesfield's involvement in the FA Cup fourth round, and were knocked out of the top seven in the National League North after Scarborough Athletic's 1-0 victory over Curzon Ashton.

It was a welcome rest for a Telford side that had played eight games in 23 days, and ahead of another run that will see Kevin Wilkin's side play 10 games in 32 days the Bucks boss admitted he is keen to start chipping away at their remaining fixtures.

"One thing we don't want is to start having to play catch up," Wilkin said. "We're already looking at a long run of Saturday-Tuesday games and have been for a little while, so if we can get the game to go ahead it will be a benefit to everybody, especially after not playing on Saturday.

"Like everywhere we've had a lot of rain, but the pitch is well constructed and there's every chance that we'll get the game on. The ground staff do a great job and it was great to get the game on against Hereford, so hopefully we can do the same again."

Despite that run of games though Wilkin insisted his side are still fresh and would have been raring to go on Saturday had they needed to.

"It wouldn't have bothered me at all if we'd have had to play on Saturday," he said. "The lads are taking games really well at the moment and there doesn't seem to be any let up in the energy they're showing out on the field, nor is there any let up in the returns on the GPS results.

"Based on that evidence I'd say we still look pretty fresh and the lads are out there enjoying it, which is hopefully something that will continue deep into the season.

"Orrin (Pendley), David (Solademi) and Brandon (Hall) all trained on Thursday night and Adan (George) is probably a week or so away from being available for training, and then possibly to play some part in matches as well.

"It was Brandon's first session so we're not going to force him back into things at the moment, but I would certainly like to think Orrin and David will be available for tomorrow."

Opponents Chorley, led by experienced boss Andy Preece, made a good start to the current campaign, but their form fell off alarmingly as they endured a 10-game winless run as autumn set in. While they managed to fight their way out of that blip the Magpies have remained very inconsistent in recent months, and they currently sit in 14th on 41 points from 31 games.

Preece’s side ran out 3-1 winners when the sides met in Lancashire earlier this season. Both sides are in rather different form now though, and the Bucks have won the last two encounters between the teams at the SEAH Stadium.