Bucks hit the road again in search of another clean sheet

The Bucks won 2-0 at Leiston last weekend, just their second clean sheet of the season and their first since a 1-0 win at Spalding United in August.

And while Telford are sitting comfortably in the top three of the Southern Central Premier, Wilkin admitted his side need more shutouts if they are to achieve their goals this season.

“It is long overdue, and I’ve gone on the record a number of times saying that we need to keep more clean sheets if we want to be successful,” the Telford boss said. “That was the icing on the cake for Saturday’s result – keeping them out and achieving a good away win was very welcome and keeps us in the mix.”

Wilkin added: “If we keep our concentration levels high and don’t make glaring errors we give ourselves a chance.

“On most occasions last season we did it really well, and understanding how hard you have to work out of possession as well as in possession is something we’re beginning to do.

“Equally you can’t make individual errors like the ones we’ve been making, and you need all these factors to come together to keep clean sheets.”

Tomorrow’s opponents Royston have struggled for consistency this season, but despite finding themselves languishing in 17th place they have defeated league leaders Kettering Town and play-off chasers Redditch United this season.

The Crows will be without influential midfielder Adam Murray after his red card last weekend, but Wilkin is still expecting a physically and mentally tough meeting at Garden Walk.

 “Our scout has watched them, and there are some players in their ranks that are quite attritional, and they do rely fairly heavily on them,” he explained. “At home, if you allow them to get a head of steam up, they can be very good, as you can see from some of their results.”

Wilkin added: “Beating Kettering is no mean feat, beating Redditch is no mean feat, so we’ll have to be as good as we were last weekend if we want to take anything away from the game.

“They’re clearly capable of performing well, and we’re not so good that we can afford to play below our maximum and win games.

“This season we’ve gone away to some tough places and stood up to the test, and hopefully if we understand how to apply ourselves in the right way we can come away with another positive result.”

During the game at Leiston, Kyle Storer and Matty Stenson were both withdrawn with fitness concerns, but Wilkin delivered an encouraging update on their conditions.

He said: “Kyle had a migraine the day before the game but fair play to him, he battled on and had a really solid game for us, and Stenno had a dead leg, but he should be good to train on Thursday.”

Wilkin added: “We’re hoping Ellis Myles won’t be too far away too.”