Analysis: Telford just waiting for the final straw to be removed

That isn’t strictly true. The game-winning goal, scored by Sports’ Dan Jarvis, was indeed spectacular, one worthy of winning any contest, and so it proved as the Bucks toiled to find a response.

Playing under pressure, much of it brought upon themselves, has ultimately proven too heavy a yoke for the Bucks to lift.

Occasionally, as in last week’s victory at Banbury United, they have raised their collective game, but they simply haven’t been capable of reaching those levels often enough to give themselves a genuine chance of escaping relegation.

Watching the struggle at the foot of the table is like watching a game of Ker-plunk. One by one the straws are being removed, and the marbles have to fall eventually.

The Bucks are now 15 points from safety with 15 points to play for at the foot of the Vanarama National League North; however, the team they would need to catch, Farsley Celtic, are in action on Tuesday night, when they will relegate the Bucks if they avoid defeat at home by Brackley Town.

Victory in this game would have allowed Kevin Wilkin’s team to stay alive into Good Friday’s trip to Brackley, Wilkin’s former team, but the odds would have remained stacked against them.

The manager made one enforced change, replacing the suspended Luke Burke with Liam Nolan. He partnered Nathan Cameron in the middle of a back four, with Jordan Piggott moving from the centre into the slot vacated by Burke following his red card at Banbury.

Jamie Allen returned from intentional duty, representing Montserrat in the CONCACAF Nations League, and Joe Thompson, signed on a dual registration with Newcastle Town, found a place on the bench with Allen.

Although they didn’t tear into their opponents, the Bucks’ opening 15 minutes gave cause for cautious optimism. Montel Gibson cleared the crossbar with an overhead kick when an early free-kick fell his way in the box, and some early free-kick and corner opportunities, although not seized, suggested Sports could be got at.

The visitors were promoted via the playoffs from the Southern Premier Central last season, a league the Bucks may find themselves in on the opening day of the 2023/24 season. They are a side who have invested in quality on the field, rather than in their facilities, but having the best stadium at Step 3 won’t win the Bucks any prizes.

Michael Gash, whose goals helped earn that promotion and who has recently taken over as interim manager with Jason Steele, has enjoyed a prolific career at the top of the non-league game, and he was the target for much of Sports’ attacking play.

His header back towards the six-yard box from a Nathan Fox cross was the first danger signal for the Bucks after 15 minutes, and the visitors’ passes began to find their intended targets more accurately in the final third.

Lewis Salmon, who scored at Banbury, looked the liveliest of the Bucks’ striking trio of Gibson, Kai Williams and himself; as well as trying to provide by beating Fox in the outside right channel, he also did well to keep his feet and stumble through a couple of challenges before firing a rising shot wide of Peter Crook’s near post.

In the 24th minute, the visitors went ahead. From a free-kick, Sports’ Dan Jarvis, who impressed with his energy and eagerness to press the ball, was allowed too much room 30 yards from goal. Byron Moore is technically gifted but not truly a defensive midfielder; he didn’t get to Jarvis and he struck a right-footed shot that curled in and beat a static Joe Young into his top-left-hand corner, clipping the underside of the bar and bouncing down and in.

It was a stunning effort, and the Bucks tried to reply with a couple of quick corners, but in the 33rd minute, they were grateful to Cameron for a fantastic defensive intervention to thwart Gash. Fox’s left-wing delivery to the far post almost demanded to be headed in, but as Gash began to get airborne to deliver the coup de grace, Cameron hurled himself in its path to head it away, landing in the back of the net. That brought a stoppage as running repairs were carried out, Cameron having gotten tangled in the net as he fell and pulled it from its supporting structure.

The Bucks’ best chance to level came in the 38th minute. Salmon was again the provider, with a good run and cross that was met by Gibson’s header. It was on target but was pushed away to his right by Crook, who perhaps made it look a more spectacular stop than it truly was.

Jarvis replied with a hard, low 25-yarder that Young got right behind, and the teams went in separated by his sublime strike.

Half Time: AFC Telford United 0-1 Peterborough Sports

The second period began with Sports in a hurry to make the game safe. Gash has handball claims ignored, and then Young had to parry over his powerful header as he once again rose at the far post to win the ball; the Bucks must have been aware of his threat, but seemed to be able to do little to prevent it.

Johnson Gyamfi was scythed down by Adam Livingstone to earn the Buck a yellow card, but it perhaps prevented a dangerous cross from being delivered. From the free-kick, Gash again rose imperiously to head the ball towards the goal, but his teammate Connor Johnson’s attempt to change the direction of the ball with his head only put it over the bar with Young helpless. Gash might have wished that former Buck Johnson had resisted the urge to try and make sure.

Sports began to sit deeper, soaking up what the Bucks could muster, and Wilkin swapped Livingstone and Salmon for Allen and Brendon Daniels, hoping to find a spark.

Crook held a firm Gibson shot after he cut inside from the left flank, but then Sports had two chances to stretch the lead. Josh McCammon, promoted to the starting eleven after an injury to Jordan Nicholson in the warm-ups, got in behind the Bucks’ defence as they began to play a higher line, but his shot was blocked by the legs of Young.

Within a minute he clipped the outside of Young’s right post from inside the six-yard box, located by Gash’s nifty knock-back across goal from a deep cross.

The hosts summoned what they could offer, but Sports presented a tough barrier to break down, with most of their ranks behind the ball, denying the Bucks much space in which to work.

Richard Jones and then Gash joined Hugh Alban-Jones in the referee’s notebook as Sports ground out their win in a way that wasn’t easy on the eye but was an object lesson in how to make sure they left with what they came for.

The Bucks flashed a header wide from a free-kick, and McCammon missed his third chance of the game when Young again thwarted him. Gibson’s frustration led him to stray offside trying to make the most of some late pressure around the goal, but the Bucks’ body language spoke of a team who didn’t truly believe.

They now head into the Easter weekend uncertain as yet as to whether their fate may be sealed before Good Friday.

Referee: Richard Holmes.

Assistants: Lewis Mansfield-King, Jack Shepherd.

Attendance: 915.

Telford: (4-1-2-3) Young, Piggott, Livingstone (Daniels 66), Nolan, Cameron, Moore, Evans (Thompson 85), Ekpolo, Salmon (Allen 66), Gibson, Williams.

Subs not used: Bood, Rowe.

Cautioned: Livingstone.

Peterborough Sports (4-1-3-2): Crook, Bazeley, Jones, Johnson, Fox, Lawlor, Alban-Jones, Jarvis (Maniche Sani 75), Gyamfi (Crawford 68), Gash, McCammon.

Subs not used: Fryatt, M.Jones, Williams-Lowe.

Cautioned: Alban-Jones, R.Jones, Gash.

Scorer: Jarvis (24).