Paul Carden’s resurgent AFC Telford United look for more of the same

Paul Carden’s men have won back-to-back league games for the first time this season and, in doing so, climbed off the foot of National League North and away from the sole relegation spot.

They also registered consecutive clean sheets – an achievement tough to come by in recent years – while scoring eight goals against Darlington and Bradford Park Avenue.

Extending the winning run away at ninth-placed Curzon Ashton tomorrow would truly confirm the Bucks are looking up and hopefully towards brighter days.

The next player to score for the Bucks will also have the honour of scoring the 1,000 competitive goal since the club’s reformation in 2004.

Carden, whose recent acquisitions since taking over at the end of last year have helped stop the rot, has rightly played down the recent turnaround. In his words ‘it is only two wins’ – albeit that doubles Telford’s previous for the season.

More pertinently, the Bucks are still 21st and just a single point clear of Farsley Celtic, who now occupy the dangerzone.

Victory against the Nash at Tameside Stadium tomorrow – something Telford have yet to achieve since Curzon were promoted to step two in 2015 – carries the possibility of lifting Carden’s men above two more rivals in the hunt for safety.

While the manager did not play down the psychological significance of climbing off bottom, he is not interested in studying the table and insists continued positive performances will breed results and the points to lift well clear.

Carden said: “I certainly won’t dress that fact up – we’ve moved up a position, which is great.

“The league table will take care of itself when we get the results. Whatever happens elsewhere happens, if we’re making sure our own house is in order it’s all we can do.”

Curzon, now under former Farsley chief Adam Lakeland after ex-Bucks target Steve Cunningham was relieved of his duties from the high-flying Nash earlier in the season, will be confident hosts having secured back-to-back wins of their own.

They edged Chester 4-3 before a fine 1-0 win at AFC Fylde last time out.

Carden added: “Confidence in sport is your body language, your manner, your mood, the way you approach things.

“Confidence and belief play a big part in form and how you feel.

“The two results, back-to-back wins and clean sheets are a big boost. But I keep saying it – not to dampen things – but it’s just two wins. We have to keep backing results and performances up.

“Once we get one game done we draw a line under it and move to the next. But it certainly helps the performances have been to the level they have and results have followed.

“It never is (an easy place to go). I’ve watched them a couple of times. I know a fair few of the players there too, they’re doing really well.

“They’ve got a good manager in Adam Lakeland who’s got them going again after taking over from Steve Cunningham, he’s certainly put his own style on it with one or two new players.”

“It didn’t surprise me that they beat Fylde, with the way they can set up and the ability they’ve got, we know it’ll be a tough game, but they’d look at it as a tough game also.”