Telford boss Paul Carden searching for positives after loss to old club

“There wasn’t very much positive to come out of it; we got off to a poor start, and within seven minutes we were 2-0 down,” said Carden. “Josh Dugmore was the only real positive out of the game.” With less than two weeks before Bucks kick-off the 2022/23 campaign in National League North, Carden saw an error-strewn Bucks performance punished by a lively and confident Warrington side, although their former manager knew exactly the threat they posed.

“We were coming to a club where I was manager for a long time,” he said. “It wasn’t about me, but I said that they side we’d come up against were a good competitive side from the league below. I signed the majority of the players, but the manager that’s come in (Carden’s former assistant Mark Beesley) is putting his own stamp on it, but it was about having the kind of competitive game we’ve got coming up in the league.

“There were added ingredients, with what I’ve just mentioned, and we needed to be ‘at it’. That set the tone, but body language from players was infectious, and it was bad body language, poor body language. That went throughout the team in the first half.”

The Bucks now have two behind-closed-doors friendlies, starting against Championship side Burnley tomorrow in Lancashire.