AFC Telford v Darlington: Bucks aim to follow Quakers’ example

Tuesday night’s 1-0 triumph at Alfreton Town – the Bucks’ first on the road since October 21 – was much welcome, writes Joe Edwards.

Committed, wearing the shirt with pride, supporters were finally given something to cheer.

Telford can not get carried away, though, as there is still plenty of work to do.

They may have won that battle, but the war to remain in National League North rages on.

Rob Edwards’ side are still third bottom, now on 37 points from 32 games – not too bad of a total.

In fact, that amount of points would have kept them up last term.

The Bucks are one of around nine teams who are fearing the drop, with one of the relegation places already taken by North Ferriby United.

One of the sides who have been able to pull away from danger over the past few weeks are tomorrow’s opponents, Darlington.

A club which should have been in the play-offs last year only to miss out because their ground did not meet league requirements, things have not gone as swimmingly for them this time around.

Martin Gray upped sticks for York City, who are currently fourth, and the Quakers took a while to get going under former Nuneaton Town chief Tommy Wright.

A couple of players who worked under Wright at Boro have made the move up north too, in winger Greg Mills – who grabbed a brace in a 4-2 success against Telford last season – and striker Reece Styche.

Former Bucks left-back Ben O’Hanlon is also at Darlington.

Wright’s charges are coming to the New Bucks Head in good shape, having gone four games unbeaten.

They will be feeling especially confident after putting six past North Ferriby last weekend.

Edwards and his men were the victors in the reverse fixture, though, back in August.

Top scorer Marcus Dinanga got the all-important goal in a 1-0 win – and he seems on the way back to his best after netting his 18th of the season at the Impact Arena on Tuesday.

The Quakers’ rise to 11th – just three points off the play-offs – proves where a bit of consistency can take you.

It is exactly what Telford hope to emulate in these final 10 games of what has been a difficult season – and a very testing introduction to management for former Wolves and Shrewsbury Town defender Edwards.

He has a wealth of options at his disposal going into the clash.

Having heaped praise on Ellis Deeney, Jordan Lussey and Henry Cowans after their display against Alfreton, the midfield trio seems unlikely to be changed.

It is actually hard to see the Bucks chief changing anything from Tuesday. After all, there is no need to change a winning team unless there are injuries and suspensions.

The only Telford player who is serving a ban is centre forward Amari Morgan-Smith. This is the second of the 28-year-old’s three-match suspension after his late sending-off at Southport.

What the Bucks are aiming to do is build momentum.

And although three points would be fantastic, they would happily take a point here.