Telford boss left to rue failure to kill off rivals

The newly-promoted Waders secured a point from a 1-1 draw, with Cyrus Babaie equalising Matty Stenson’s first-half penalty for the Bucks, and Wilkin was left to rue missed opportunities.

He said: “Everyone wants to get their season up and running at the earliest opportunity. I think we got to grips with the surface, which was a little slower than is ideal for us, and we largely carried the fight to Biggleswade.

“We got ourselves into the box seat, scored just before half time and probably should have been further ahead in the first half, but when you don’t take moments, it comes back to haunt you.”

Stenson’s goal came in first-half injury time, the Bucks finally gaining reward for a spell of concerted attacking, but the Waders withstood the Bucks’ attempts to add what should have been a decisive second goal, and an inspired substitution lifted the home side.

Eddie Panter’s introduction troubled the normally reliable pairing of Orrin Pendley and Sam Whittall, and Panter’s cross allowed Babaie to redirect the ball past Brandon Hall in the 64th minute.

Wilkin didn’t lay sole responsibility with the pair but felt his side’s failure to see trouble developing contributed to their travails, also giving credit to their opposition: “They kept going and kept working hard at their game and had a period there where they had us on the back foot.

“(It’s) just understanding that at certain times against teams, you can’t be as expansive as you want to be all the time, and I just felt when Biggleswade were finding their feet and asking us one or two questions, we were too open.”