Gavin Cowan hails AFC Telford United's 'brilliant start' after impressive Brackley Town win
Gavin Cowan heaped praise on his AFC Telford side following a stunning start to their National North campaign.
The Bucks enjoyed an opening night to remember as they saw off Brackley Town 3-0 at the New Bucks Head on Tuesday.
Goals from Aaron Williams, Jason Oswell and James Hardy capped an excellent night’s work against a side tipped to be in the promotion mix this season.
“We are pleased to get off the mark and to do it in such a brilliant fashion,” said delighted boss Cowan. “It’s a brilliant start for us, three goals, none conceded and three points. They are a team that will undoubtedly be up there. They have been together for a long time. It does make it an even better win.”
Williams opened the scoring from the penalty spot early in the second half and late goals from Oswell and Hardy wrapped up the win.
And Cowan was pleased to see Bucks’ pre-season work reap a reward.
“We have worked on being really difficult to beat and it paid dividends,” he said.
“We were really pleased at half-time with the way it was going. We knew that as the game went on it would get stretched and we managed to capitalise on that.
“We have worked hard on being fit and we knew that with the ability we have, we would get chances.
“On the whole we were really difficult to break down and when the ball turned over, in the transition we had worked on being really explosive and we did that and we punished them.
“As a team it was a brilliant performance in all departments. They had a couple of shots from distance and set-pieces are going to be quite competitive against Brackley.
“There were some brilliant individual performances but from my perspective it’s a collective thing and I am really pleased.”
Meanwhile, Telford face a 400-mile round trip in the FA Cup third qualifying round.
They have been drawn away to Suffolk-based Southern League Premier Central Division side Leiston.
Cowan’s side beat Chasetown on penalties in the second qualifying round after Saturday’s tie had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, and victory in the next stage could bring in more than £5,000.
