Bucks "deserved" their draw - but it ends play-off hopes

Boss Kevin Wilkin said a draw was the least AFC Telford United deserved at home to Darlington - even though it did end the Bucks’ play-off hopes.

The Telford boss was mystified by a handball decision against Jordan Piggott that led to a missed penalty, but ultimately a goal for the visitors, and it took Piggott’s 96th- minute leveller to earn a point.

“I think it (the draw) was the least we deserved,” he said. “Again, our task has been made more difficult with what I think is a terrible refereeing decision, quite how that's a penalty, the first one is beyond me, but we get away with that moment and then to concede off the corner is disappointing.”

With Darlington needing the points to secure a play-off berth, the game took several bizarre turns after being goalless at the interval.

Curtis Main, who had already fluffed his lines with a weak header from the game’s best chance, was given a second opportunity from the spot when he won a second spot-kick, referee Harry Warner assessing Main’s swan-dive in the box as a foul by keeper Josh Gracey.

The Quakers’ top scorer cleared Gracey’s crossbar from a one-stride run-up, and may have been the loneliest man on the team coach when Piggott’s late intervention denied them the maximum reward.

The Bucks appeared to be fired up by those events, but Wilkin stressed that his team’s inner flame needs to burn constantly, not merely in response to injustice or adversity.

“We need to find that desire from minute one,” he said. “We pass the ball really well; we had good control of the game throughout the first half. There were one or two moments where we got loose, one or two players that didn't step up to the level that they're capable of, but even so, we were still, I think, the more dominant side within it.

“We've had to make several changes, which is never ideal, and I'm not a big lover of that, but yeah, we're comfortable in the game, we've got into some good moments and good areas, and again, I'm saying the same things. If we score first and have a lead to manage, we're generally quite good at that. When we don't, it's a little bit open.”

Already without Oliver Cawthorne, the Bucks had to make do without Remi Walker in midfield, an injury sustained at Peterborough Sports ruling him out. Wilkin replaced him with Dylan Mitchell and loaded his substitutes’ bench with attacking options, a move that paid off, especially when the visitors had Jack Maskell shown a straight red card for a poor tackle on Orrin Pendley.

That came in the 87th minute, and with close to 10 minutes added for stoppages and some excessive Darlington game management, the Bucks eventually found a way.

Wilkin added: “The game became a little bit like… They wanted to score, and we wanted to score, and we've obviously thrown caution to the wind a little bit there. I know Ricky (Dinanga) is not a left-back, but we wanted to get every kind of striker and goalscoring player onto the field. You take Jordan (Cranston) off, and yeah, you take a little bit of a chance. It's nothing lost as such in that situation, so credit to all the boys that went on. They've had an effect, kept us going, found corners and restart moments and situations, and we drag something from the game.”