Bromsgrove v Telford - Match preview

The 3-0 win against Redditch United three days ago looks to have all-but secured a Southern League central play-off place for Telford, and victory in Warwickshire today could remove all doubt.

However, after a couple of disappointing results on the road in recent weeks, manager Kevin Wilkin is adamant that the best of the Bucks will be needed once again.

“I’ve just watched them (Bromsgrove) against Coalville and they’re a big, physical side,” Wilkin said, shortly after arriving home from Leicestershire.

“Nathan Blissett is there, who we obviously had last season, and they do have some presence about them.”

He added: “I’m not sure what the surface is like, but it’ll be a tough encounter on what might be a very flat surface that’s losing a bit of grass.

“They beat Needham 3-0 the other week and you need to respect sides that are able to do that, because we haven’t.”

Having played on Good Friday rather than Saturday, Telford have the advantage of an extra day’s rest in between games on the busy Easter weekend.

And after a new bout of injury concerns, that could be the difference between naming a full squad of players and not.

“When we knew the fixtures came out we tried to move things to give us as much rest and recovery time as possible, it made perfect sense,” Wilkin explained.

“With the bumps and the bruises that we’ve got, hopefully one or two of them may have settled down enough to get them back out there to continue from where we left off.”

Discussing the injured pair of Ellis Brown and Byron Moore, the Bucks boss was unable to put a timescale on their absence, but admitted both took nasty blows to the shin on Friday afternoon.

“I can’t really give much of an update really at this stage,” he conceded.

“I think Ellis has a bang to the muscle in his shin, and Byron’s was an impact on the bone in his shin.

“They’re both more impact injuries from sturdy tackles, so after they’ve settled down there may be a chance for Monday.”

Sam Whittall, Ricardo Dinanga and Nathan Fox all missed the game on Friday, but are approaching the end of their recoveries.

In fact, should Telford be seriously struggling for numbers Wilkin admitted both Whittall and Dinanga could take a spot on the bench in case of emergencies.

“Nathan remains the one who’s a little bit further away, but we had them all assessed prior to the Redditch game,” Wilkin revealed.

“Friday came a little bit too soon for Ricardo and Sam, but we’ll see what these extra few days have brought them.”

“We are a little bit stretched should those two not make the game.”

The returning Matty Stenson may be in line for a start after his goal-scoring cameo last time out, while Ty Webster also impressed with his second-half display.

Friday’s success saw leading scorer Montel Gibson set Bucks on the way when he headed them into a first-half lead. Second- half goals from Stenson and Remi Walker sealed what turned into a comfortable victory.

And another plus point for Wilkin was the clean sheet, which was secured when goalkeeper Brandon Hall saved Reece Flanagan’s 89th-minute penalty kick.

Bucks kick-off today’s clash sitting third in the table, two points behind Mickleover having played the same number of games.