'We didn't do enough to win' admits AFC Telford United boss Paul Carden
An unbeaten run that extended to three matches and a third clean sheet for AFC Telford United were the positives from their goalless draw at Curzon Ashton.
But Bucks manager Paul Carden felt his team got in their own way too often when seeking to use a numerical advantage handed to them by their opponent’s indiscipline.
“There is frustration, but any point on the road is a good point, especially when it’s backed up with a clean sheet. If you get clean sheets, it means you’re going to gain points,” said Carden.
For the third game in succession, the Bucks had an opponent dismissed for violent conduct, but unlike last week, when they successfully used the man advantage, they found Curzon Ashton a tougher nut to crack.
Scott Wilson saw red for the hosts on the stroke of half-time, referee Sam Mulhall adjudging him to have elbowed Bucks striker Jason Oswell in the face. That gave the Bucks 45 minutes to break Curzon down, but the chances dried up, as Carden admitted:
“I felt we didn’t do enough in the second half. I wouldn’t say we were too easy to play against, but we made it easier by being too high, too early,” he added.
“We didn’t get the ball wide early enough, because we had too many men up the pitch.”
“People will say “You’ve got the extra man, push on, push on, but that’s not how you make the extra man count. You have to pull them about, you’ve got to make that numerical advantage count, and I just felt for spells in the second half that we didn’t, because we were too pushed on, and we didn’t move them about enough.”
Ironically, Carden felt his team looked more like scoring when Wilson was still on the field:
“In the first half I think we’d have been good value if we’d gone it (at half-time) in front; I thought we limited them to a few breaks, but we carved open some really decent chances where we should be scoring.”
Carden has added attacking midfielder Patrick Jarrett from Stoke City’s academy on a month’s loan, to plug the gap left by Kai Williams’ injury, which will likely keep him out of action for most of February.
The Bucks chief also revealed that defender Zak Lilly missed the game because of an ankle ligament injury through which he has been playing; however, Lilly was unable to take a full part in training last week.
