Biggleswade Town vs Telford - Match preview

The Bucks travel to Bedfordshire to take on the newly-promoted Waders, who won the Southern League Division One Central title at a canter last season.

And after they came so agonisingly close to an immediate return to the National League North last season, Wilkin is keen to go one better this time around.

“We know that we have to go and do what we did last season again, plus that little bit extra to make us successful,” the Telford boss said. “Last season is gone now, and we can only look forward to the challenges we’re going to face.”

Wilkin added: “I don’t think we need to discuss the play-off final too much, if it gets brought up it gets brought up but at the end of the day it’s a new season and everyone from top to bottom in the league starts with a renewed optimism.

“They’ve clearly got some capable players who earned them a promotion, so when you throw all of those things into the mix it becomes a real challenge.”

After a successful campaign last season, Jimmy Martin’s side arrive back in the seventh tier full of confidence.

And while Telford go into the game big favourites, as they will for most games this season, they are well aware of the dangers posed by Saturday’s opponents.

“We’ve had them watched so hopefully we do have a bit of a handle on what they’re all about, and the strengths and weaknesses that they offer,” Wilkin said. “When you’re facing any side that is off the back of a promotion they’ll clearly be buoyant from it and carry some momentum into the season.”

He continued: “We have to go into it understanding these things and hopefully the group knows that we need to be picking up results at these kinds of places.

“By the looks of it the grass is quite long, and it’ll probably stay dry which will slow the game down.

“That’s why games like this can be difficult, because if you can’t move the ball quickly it makes it tricky to break teams down.

“From what we watched we expect them to play with three big centre-halves, and if you don’t move them around quickly enough they can make things tough.

“We faced this kind of challenge several times last season so it’s nothing new to us.”

The Bucks are expected to be without defenders Nathan Fox and Steffan Jones for tomorrow afternoon’s game, with both players still hampered by pre-season injuries.

Kyle Storer will also be absent, leaving Wilkin with few options to pick from in his thin squad.

With injuries to Fox and Jones the Bucks has managed to strengthen his defensive ranks with the addition of George Burroughs on a permanent basis.

The former-loanee had been trialling with the club following his release from Coventry City and played in last weekend’s final pre-season friendly at home to Tamworth.