'I think the boys are trying' - Under-fire boss on AFC Telford defeat

Kevin Wilkin insists his AFC Telford United players are ‘trying’ as they again came up short this season.

A 1-0 defeat to Bedford Town on Monday - decided by a third-minute strike from George Moncur - left the Bucks winless in six and bottom of National League North.

And Wilkin acknowledged his side are coming up short.

“I think the boys are trying,” he said. “I think there are a few there, as I’ve said in previous weeks, who aren't at the physical level that we need them to be there to go and make the difference.

“With the ball at their feet, they're all pretty well capable, but it’s about playing to that intensity…

“We don't get around the outside of teams like we did last year. We don't have that pace down either side, and at the end of it, we don't have enough quality there. That's been evident in the six games that we've played.”

The manager felt his side’s failure is largely collective, with vulnerability to making errors not confined to a few but spread across the team.

“For whatever reason, our defending has been poor in certain moments, and we can't sugarcoat that situation,” he said. “I'm responsible for that, and I'm asking those players to go out there and do a job and concentrate to high levels. Unfortunately, almost everybody out there could go and do better in certain moments.”

Wilkin’s call for higher standards across the board applied not only to his defence, but also at the other end of the pitch.

“As a group we've got to come together in a strong fashion and eradicate those poor errors, and that's at both ends of the field,” he said. “We had countless chances against Brackley in the opening game this season, and when you don't take them, then we're all feeling, and me especially, really sore about not getting anything out of today as well.”

Again declining to lay too much blame on his squad, Wilkin added: “Look, they're good lads, and they're trying hard, but really reaching those high levels of athleticism and quality that we need, they haven't quite been able to do.

“Add to that, one or two of the more experienced players have made mistakes that aren't generally characteristic of them, and you're in for a difficult period, for sure you are, and that's where we find ourselves at the moment.”

However, he also suggested that the faith he had placed in his squad to deliver isn’t being wholly reciprocated.

“I'm not blaming anybody else,” he said. “I will carry the can for it, and whatever that looks like, whether I'm still here come the next game, I don't know, but they're not really repaying me in the way that I would like.”

Returning to the day’s events, Bedford’s cagey approach meant Wilkin withdrew midfielder Sam McLintock before half-time for striker Louis Moult, and he confirmed it was a tactical rather than enforced change: “You need a goal then, don't you? We're getting into lots of good areas high up the field in the final third, and Louis is good in those moments; he's a good striker that will get goals, and I think within 10 minutes of being on, he's worked the goalkeeper on two occasions and both have drawn good saves out of the goalkeeper.

“I just felt for our dominance with the ball, we just needed to open up a moment and go and find a moment, and it obviously didn't quite happen for us today.

“Making that difference high up the field is again where we've come up short. We're not as free-scoring as we were last year, and putting a little bit more pace down either side, maybe through the middle, whatever it might be, is something that I've been aware for a little while that we need to add to; finding the players that are going to bring that is a little bit more challenging.”