Analysis: Telford quickly running out of chances at the bottom

A disjointed display in defeat against rivals for the drop saw the gap to safety widen to 14 points, and with only 33 points available to Kevin Wilkin’s team, the end looks likely to arrive sooner rather than later.

The Bucks spurned chances to score in this game, none more so than Brendon Daniels’ 63rd-minute failure from the penalty spot.

Their lack of composure within sight of the goal was apparent all afternoon – it may have been borne of anxiety, but regardless of the cause, the result of failing to score is always likely to be fatal for a team needing wins and nothing less.

Blyth arrived off the back of consecutive 1-0 wins and made it three in a row. They nevertheless looked beatable, only serving to make their victory more frustrating.

Wilkin made several changes to the team that had secured a faltering 1-1 draw in midweek with Leamington.

Nathan Cameron made his first start for the club, partnering Harry Flowers in defence, and Robbie Evans returned in midfield in place of Luke Rowe, absent through illness. Evans also took the armband from Rowe, while Kai Williams dropped to the substitutes’ bench. Brad Bood came into the defence, with Jordan Piggott moving into a midfield role from the back four.

The visitors made the better start to the game, with Curtis Round – on the left of an attacking trio with Troy Chiabi and Cedric Main – looking to make early inroads.

Round had an early shot blocked, controlling a low cross to swivel and strike right-footed, and then from a corner Joe Young had to take no chances and turn the ball on to the top of the net as a header dropped goalwards.

The Bucks had Montel Gibson and Jamie Allen as their scoring threat, but the pairing wasn’t combining to produce anything of note as Spartans remained the more enterprising.

A clever short corner, or at least one that caught the Bucks unaware, allowed full-back Rhys Evans to shoot, Byron Moore blocking his effort.

The home side’s first real goal attempt came when right-back Luke Burke, on loan from AFC Fylde, was forced infield by a lack of passing options and just kept going until a shooting chance opened up. However, his rising effort cleared the crossbar by some distance.

Nicky Deverdics, the experienced Blyth captain, was pulling the strings in midfield, and his advance and pass to Round on the left brought a dangerous low cross that Flowers had to clear from his near post for a corner.

A Spartans slip led to a counter-attack chance as Moore ran clear, the defence caught high and flat-footed. As Moore reached the penalty area, Blyth recovered and Moore opted to pass to Gibson, free to his right – only for the striker to miscue his shot and half-stand on the ball as the opportunity was lost.

Blyth responded, with Jordan Hickey firing an angled shot well over the bar as Cameron’s attempted clearing header fell short, Bood also passing up the opportunity to clear and presenting the ball to Hickey. Having missed such a good opportunity to lead, few fans who’ve watched the Bucks in this dismal season would have been surprised when the visitors made them pay for their wastefulness in the 28th minute.

Neither Bood nor Daniels on the left accepted the invitation to get close enough to full-back Evans, and when he sent a cross hurtling in at pace to the far post, Main was on the spot ahead of Burke to head powerfully home beyond Young from close range.

The Bucks mounted a response.

A free-kick awarded 30-35 yards from the goal saw Daniels send the ball into the box, Blyth being forced to concede a corner.

The kick was cleared from the left back to Moore, who shaped to cross but then turned away from his man and darted into the box before putting a low cross into Piggott’s path. The stand-in midfielder took an air shot, but that teed up Evans, arriving behind him, only for the captain to get underneath his shot and clear the bar.

Welshman Evans is a passionate competitor and tried to light a fire under his team in the 40th minute. He won a tackle in midfield and then continued his run to receive a return pass before Blyth keeper Alex Mitchell parried his shot, which was aimed inside the near post.

There was enough time before the interval for Moore to cut in from the right flank and shoot, but his effort lacked control and swung haphazardly out of play beyond the far post.

The second half began with Spartans’ Finn Cousin-Dawson slightly fortunate when he lost possession to Allen on the edge of the box, but saw referee Harry Warner halt play for a foul by Allen.

Only a couple of minutes later, Allen shot over the crossbar when Moore and Gibson tied up the Spartans’ defence and managed to slip Allen into space on the right.

Moore was soon involved at the other end, taking the ball away from Main just before he could shoot, and being fouled by the Blyth striker.

Daniels brought a save from Mitchell, low to his right, from 25 yards out, with the keeper conceding a corner.

The Bucks then had penalty appeals dismissed as Allen went down in the box, moving for a return pass on the right side of the 18-yard box, but the referee was unmoved.

Flowers hurled himself into the path of a shot from the edge of the box after Evans had headed a Blyth corner clear of his near post, Cameron and Moore combining to concede another corner to avert the immediate threat, and Cousin-Dawson was booked for a foul on Allen at the other end.

In the 62nd minute, from a long throw by Bood on the left, Flowers was dragged to the floor by a Blyth defender for a clear penalty kick.

Daniels, the Bucks’ longest-serving player and a fan favourite, has often been the man to take the responsibility from dead-ball situations.

Despite being off-form for some time, he’d still have been the man most would have elected to take the spot-kick, but his effort from 12 yards, although hit hard, was too close to Mitchell and to the side chosen by the keeper, who beat the ball away.

Daniels and Moore soon made way for Williams and Adam Livingstone in the attacking wide positions as Wilkin sought fresh impetus.

Flowers was grateful to his keeper Young, sparing his blushes when Flowers instinctively thrust out a leg to a cross and succeeded only in propelling the ball at pace towards his own net. Young reacted superbly, Flowers held up his hands to acknowledge the keeper’s rescue act.

The Bucks huffed and puffed in the final 15-20 minutes, but lacked the guile to break down a dogged Blyth defensive unit.

Allen’s low cross from close to the corner flag was almost nudged in at the far post by a Blyth defender before Mitchell smothered it. Flowers struck the outside of the same post when he popped up on the end of another cross from the left, but found the angle too tight for his shot.

Livingstone cleared the defensive wall, but also the crossbar, from a free-kick, while Evans popped up at the near post to head just over the angle of the post and crossbar from a corner.

The Bucks had chances, but there was a feeling of wondering how many they wanted before they took one.

The same could be said for the near-certainty of relegation that they face in the coming weeks; the chances have been there for them to get out of trouble, but when you can’t take those chances, you have to know that one day, there will be no chances left to take.

Telford: Young, Burke, Bood, Flowers, Cameron, Evans (c), Piggott, Daniels (Williams 67), Moore (Livingstone 67), Allen, Gibson (Salmon 76). Subs not used: O’Brien, Ekpolo.

Attendance: 1,035.