AFC Telford United set for bank holiday double mission

Paul Carden’s side claimed a point in a thrilling encounter with Boston United, and now sit three points ahead of Guiseley as the fight to avoid the National League North’s only relegation place reaches ‘make or break’ territory. Both have two games left to play; the Bucks also hold a vastly superior goal difference.

That gap could have been five points, as Carden felt his team could justifiably have claimed all three points against play-off contenders Boston:

“We’ve been bold and we’ve been brave in the second half. The subs have come on and been a positive impact on the game, and probably on the balance of play it’s a fair result, but on the balance of chances we’ve had a lot of chances to win the game.”

Jason Oswell, given the Bucks captaincy, levelled on the stroke of half-time after Danny Elliott’s 21st minute opener for the visitors. Carden felt perhaps the only thing missing was the ability to convert their opportunities, but admitted he couldn’t really have asked for much more from his side:

“We’ve had some big chances; I think we’ve hit the woodwork three times against a side that’s well-fancied, that play with energy. I can’t fault the lads; they gave us absolutely everything. It’s what we expect; a lot of players get praised for giving everything, and it should be a given, but with the situation that we’re in everyone is giving everything that they’ve got.”

“Zak Lilly’s playing with a knock, Piggo (Jordan Piggott) has been injured, Burkey (Ryan Burke) was touch and go to come out after half-time; his foot was like a balloon, and then he goes and puts their full-back into the eighth row in the first minute with a tackle and I thought “Wow, there’s nothing wrong with him!””

“You get a feel about it, and I fancied us today. I just said “give it all you’ve got, and someone will come up trumps with a bit of quality”, because there’s a lot of quality, especially in the attacking areas of the pitch.”

Carden was quick not to get too ahead of himself, however:

“Listen, we haven’t achieved anything yet, but it was a big point today. I’ve said it before about the squad – there’s a strong squad here, which we’ll utilise for the next game, because of the quick turnaround, but we don’t fear anybody.”

That quick turnaround puts the Bucks up against their former manager Liam Watson at Southport today, and although Watson and Carden are friends, he expects no favours:

“No, because I know Liam. He’ll want to beat us; they’re on a terrible run, and he’ll be trying to get them fired up to win the game, but I’m the same – I want us to win. I keep saying about this terrible away record (no wins in 20 away matches this season); we need to break this, we need to break it, and Monday’s our last opportunity, so what a time it would be to break it.”