Telford boss speaks out as play-off push continues

Two goals from striker Montel Gibson raised his tally to thirteen for the season as the Bucks triumphed 2-1 over tough opponents, and manager Kevin Wilkin declared himself “very happy” at the way both the team and Gibson as an individual had responded to the previous week’s setback at AFC Sudbury.

“I’m delighted to bounce back after the disappointment of last Saturday and the way that the players have gone toe to toe with some strong, physically imposing players there and come out the other side of it is just really pleasing for everybody and it’s nice to get back to winning ways.”

Gibson hadn’t started the game but was introduced when fellow forward Matty Stenson suffered yet another injury blow. Stenson clashed heads with Stamford’s scorer Harry Vince and departed early due to a nasty cut.

Wilkin displayed sympathy for Stenson, who joined the Bucks from Nuneaton in January but whose time at the club has been punctuated by minor injury setbacks.

“I’m disappointed for Matt; his period with this us this time around has been very stop-start. We’re very spot stars and I’m really frustrated for him. He’s done well up until that point and in the short period that he has played and had minutes for us he’s done very, very well and it would be nice to get him out there on a more regular basis and get some minutes under his belt.”

Gibson entered the fray after just 26 minutes but slotted in and scored twice in the opening fifteen minutes of the second half to put the Bucks on course. Wilkin acknowledged that Gibson would have been a little sore at his omission, but couldn’t have been happier with his response:

“Montel would obviously be disappointed to come out of the side. I was a little bit frustrated with his performance last Saturday, but yeah, the way he’s knuckled down and gone on there, with a good attitude and application to what was needed was a great credit to him. He’s worked the target on a couple of occasions and we’re delighted he’s got two goals to his name and hopefully, he can build on that moving forward.”

The Bucks were made to dig a little deeper when Vince struck a 25-yard thunderbolt of a shot beyond Brandon Hall with around fifteen minutes remaining, but Wilkin felt his side managed the closing stages well, something that he feels bodes well for future battles:

“You have to give Stamford credit, it’s a tremendous strike for their goal. It drags them back into the game and we can’t relax for one moment. We had to see it right over the line, but it’s good for players to come through situations like that and understand that they can come through those tight situations. They’ve got the steel and in there and the minerals to get to the other side of it; they’ve done it on numerous occasions and I’m sure we’ll need to show that resolve right the way through until the end of the season.”