Jason Oswell aiming high with AFC Telford United

The striker penned a new one-year contract extension last week and is looking to kick on next season and avoid the relegation worries of the past season.

And he believes there is no reason why they can’t be kicking on further up the table and competing at the top end – which they haven’t done since the 2018/19 season.

Oswell wants to lead the way in doing that with goals, but also now as one of the more senior players in the squad. He said: “I’m one of the more senior players so I want to lead from the front.

“I’ve always contributed with my goals and I like to think as a leader too, to drive the team forward, and I’ve learned a lot this season. It is a big club, Telford. We saw that on the last game of the season with the big crowd and pitch invasion.

“Obviously it isn’t like that every week, but it was rocking and the atmosphere was great, and we want.

“We must win games to do that, and if we do that we can be right up there this year. I can’t see any reason why we can’t do that.”

Oswell has just returned from as Bucks prepare to return to pre-season at the end of the month.

And after a long slog this season, where some players played almost 50 games, Oswell insists the break has been very much needed. He added: “It has been nice to have some time off, because it was a proper slog of a season.

“It was probably one of the toughest I’ve had, it was relentless.

“I think I played 49 games, and 41 of those were in the league.

“We scrapped for everything and I think we are now more resilient for the experience we went through, but we needed the time off.”