Telford can strengthen their grip on a play-off position

Saturday’s home win over Stamford was the perfect response to defeat on the road at AFC Sudbury the week before and strengthened their grip on a top-five finish.

And after the initial fixture at Lye Meadow fell victim to the weather earlier in the month, manager Kevin Wilkin is expecting a tough game on a tired pitch.

“The pitch won’t be to the level of ours and it hasn’t had the level of investment that ours has, so it will create different challenges for us,” Wilkin said. “They’re in a good spell at the moment and had a great result last time out, so again we’re respectful that we’re in for a tough game.”

He added: “I’m not sure we’ve had the chance to watch them since (the postponed game) to be honest, but we have seen them a few times this season. We’re aware of their strengths and we won’t leave things to chance on that front.

“We’ll look at where they can potentially hurt us and where we can potentially hurt them, we always do our background on a team to understand what we’re likely to face.”

The Bucks are expecting to be without Matty Stenson for their trip to Alvechurch after the striker received a nasty head wound following a clash of heads against Stamford.

Wilkin said: “You can discount him for Tuesday, he’s had it glued and it won’t take a lot to open it up again. We’ll speak to him about potentially having it strapped and bound up, because clearly having him around the team is what we want, and when he has played he’s scored goals for us.”

There was better news regarding Nathan Fox though, with the experienced left-back making steady progress on his return from a medial ligament injury.

“He’s been out and able to run on it now, so the signs are good,” Wilkin said. “Hopefully it will be on the shorter side of what we first predicted, but again I’m not getting ahead of the game because lots of things have got to align for that to be the case.

“I think in another four weeks or so we might see him back playing again.”

Despite those two absentees the Bucks have a strong squad to pick from, and Wilkin is keen to use all the options at his disposal.

“We’re still learning about certain players and the progress they have or haven’t made, and the Stamford game was a good opportunity to move things around,” the Bucks boss said.

“Nobody wants to put together a string of bad results, do they, but when you get the chance to try and bounce back that clearly has to be the goal.”

He added: “You’re learning and understanding a player’s capabilities, whether or not they can deal with that little bit of added pressure.

“You have to have players who want to win at every opportunity.”