"I knew we were in for a tough game" - Kevin Wilkin on AFC Telford United defeat

The Bucks sat just a couple of points behind the Poppies at kick-off, but the Northamptonshire side, in a rich vein of league form and also through to the second round of the FA Cup, had too much for Wilkin’s men, something their manager had to admit afterwards:

“Congratulations to Kettering," said the boss. "You can see why they are where they are, on top of the league, and why they are in such a fantastic Cup run. They’re a decent side with good depth about and good players from top to bottom, and yeah, I knew we were in for a tough game.”

The Bucks made a positive start, but an error from midfielder Jimmy Armson was exploited ruthlessly by the Poppies. Jonny Edwards, a striker the Bucks have enquired about previously, opened the scoring after 12 minutes, and Wilkin’s side never truly recovered.

“I thought we started (well) and up until we conceded the first goal, were probably slightly the better side, which you hope to be at home," said Wilkin. "But you can't go and gift moments like we did for the first goal and keep thinking you’re going to come from behind to get something out of the game. We made life really hard for ourselves.”

The Bucks remained in the contest until first-half injury time when an error-strewn passage of play led to Tyree Wilson capitalising as the Bucks floundered.

Wilkin was clearly disappointed by the nature of the goal, but also had thoughts on his team’s performance up to that point, where they had openings but appeared panicky or rushed.

“We struggled to get a foothold in the game, and we're trying a little bit hard and just lacked that little bit of cohesion and togetherness that was shown for the opening 15 minutes or whatever it was… it deserted us," he said. "We were trying too hard and not joining things up, and frustration, from the dugout, through the stands, everyone gets frustrated and we get a bit disjointed. You ideally hope to get into half-time at 1-0, where you can regroup and reset, and unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

“We conceded another, which we’d look at again and say was a soft goal, and then we’ve got a mountain to climb.”

Edwards added the second of his brace of goals with just over an hour played, and the points were already only going one way when defender Orrin Pendley’s first goal of the season gave the Bucks some consolation and lifted the crowd.

Wilkin had praise for the way the Bucks followers, in a crowd of 1,293, stayed with his side: “Even at 3-0, I'm pleased with the character that we showed and the crowd behind the goal getting behind us and kept lifting us and kept singing, and that makes a big difference to us, and we've found a goal, which is nice.

"It would have been nice to find another, and there’s another near-miss moment where, if that goes in, all of a sudden, you might still get something. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that. We have to take it on the chin, take our medicine and make sure that we respond on Thursday (training) going into Saturday.”