Kevin Wilkin praises Telford 'culture' after win over Mickleover

“It's always important to play the game and not the occasion, and that’s one of the messages that we pass across there in the changing room. I think the biggest thing for any of my teams is that they are humble about the situation and remain humble and grounded about it.”

Captain Fraser Kerr scored the all-important winner after just nine minutes, his first for the club, and then helped to create an impenetrable barrier in front of keeper Brandon Hall with his defensive colleagues, recording a third consecutive clean sheet and a fourth in their last five matches.

The win extended the Bucks’ unbeaten league run to 14 matches and deposed Mickleover as leaders, with Needham Marker taking over the top spot.

Wilkin understands the excitement that such a run creates and is enjoying having given Bucks supporters a welcome shot of optimism, but as always it comes tempered with realism:

“It's nice, the run that that we're in, but it could all end in the next game and then you’d be kicking yourself. Being able to help the players think about how they harness that desire, that energy and the passion that they've got, and making sure they turn it into results week in, week out, is something that we’ve done a lot of work on.”

Wilkin praised sports psychologists Emma Eyre and Kathryn Cooke for helping the players to find that focus, but also acknowledged that the players play their part in it by being open to being challenged and adopting new approaches:

“There’s a spectrum of ages and experience in there (the Bucks squad) and when they get together on Thursday we try to do things as professionally as we can. We’re lucky to have those girls assisting us and we’re making the most of it. Everybody's working really hard behind the scenes and it's nice, that I can stand up here and show an appreciation of what everybody’s trying to do.”

Wilkin was without the injured Jared Hodgkiss and Jordan Piggott for the game, albeit their replacements, Sam Whittall and Byron Moore are bona fide first-team players, ensuring a continuity of performance that Wilkin aims for; however, the manager is aware of the need to strengthen and believes the club are close to getting a new addition to the squad over the line:

“Yeah, pretty much and to all intents. Everything’s agreed financially but his club needed him to play today and weren’t prepared to waive the seven days’ notice that we needed to put in (for players not on contract). Hopefully, he can be an addition to the group that can help us grow. I know his character; he’s a fantastic character and someone that I’d like to think is very much still on an upward curve within his career.”

The Bucks are in fifth place, the last playoff spot in the Southern League Premier Central division, but have games in hand on most of those above them. They are next in action on Saturday (13th), at home to Leiston.