Paul Carden takes positives in AFC Telford loss
Bucks boss Paul Carden was left to reflect on a largely positive performance, but one that yielded no points, as his team went down to a 2-1 defeat at promotion chasing Brackley Town:
“At times, they couldn’t handle us, but ultimately it’s about what goes on in both boxes, and it’s another loss, but one we have to take the positives from, because there were plenty of them.”
The positives only came after the Bucks had fallen 2-0 behind with just 18 minutes on the clock; however, it was his team’s response to that adversity that Carden sought to seize on as they prepare for what Carden feels is now a “10-game season”:
“A couple of misplaced passes or wrong decisions in the middle of the pitch have led to the first goal; giving a foul away. We’ve undone ourselves with the set-piece, as we’ve not made a better effort of dealing with the header. They’ve had two contacts from a set-piece and that’s disappointing. We then get caught in the middle of the pitch for the second and you’re looking at it, thinking “this could run away from us”, but the way we responded to going 2-0 down was definitely a big effort from the lads.”
Bucks debutant Devarn Green headed in just before the half-hour mark to cut the deficit, and Carden’s team then matched or even bettered Brackley over the remaining hour. They were denied an equaliser in injury time when Andre Wright’s connected with a free-kick but struck the crossbar, which would have rewarded them for a positive approach.
Green lasted an hour of his debut, but showed what he might bring to the Bucks’ table. His arrival also brought a change of role for Brendon Daniels, one which Carden revealed he’d been mulling over for a while:
“The pace that we’ve got up front can hurt teams, in Byron (Moore) and Devarn (Green); I just felt that if we pulled Brendon in one you get his quality on the ball to be able to make the passes that he makes. We’ve got two full-backs who can bomb on now, and provide quality. It was a tweak to the system, and it’s something I’ve been looking to do, and I felt it worked it worked really well.”
Carden didn’t dwell on the result, choosing instead to look forward:
“I said to the lads on Thursday, that if we’d put this side together in May and June, and we were approaching pre-season with this squad, to work on things and to gel, to get some understanding, then I’d be confident. But, we’ve “microwaved it”, if you like, we’ve had to do it in 6-7 weeks, but it’s looking like what we need, and today was the start of a 10-game league. We haven’t got off on the right foot in terms of the result, but we won’t play strong sides like that every week and I’m positive and I’m confident about what we’re able to put out onto the pitch.”
Carden also confirmed that injury absentees Theo Streete and Brad Bood were close to a return, whilst Lamine Sherif has signed on a dual registration for Step 3 side Peterborough Sports, playing an hour of their 2-2 draw with Hitchin Town.
