Analysis: Harum-scarum but Telford edge it in a nine-goal thriller

Winning by the odd goal in nine isn’t the way AFC Telford manager Kevin Wilkin wouldn’t have chosen to secure a first victory of the season; however, the Bucks did at least find a way to win.

Given that they came into the game having suffered a chastening defeat at home in midweek, the positive has to be that they rebounded, but there are undoubtedly issues for Wilkin to address, most obviously his defence.

After a less-than-sweet start last season, they were smooth but also a tough nut to crack. Their second-placed finish was founded on their solidity, but this season, they have displayed a soft centre.

Wilkin has been around for long enough not to be fooled by the result. He sought to address both a lack of defensive options and defensive organisation by signing centre-half Alex Gudger on a season-long loan from his former club, Brackley Town.

Gudger made a decent debut, and even opened the scoring. However, last season’s defensive rocks Orrin Pendley and Sam Whittall appear out of sorts, and Gudger can’t reasonably be expected to transform his new colleagues immediately.

Wilkin selected Gudger and played three centre-halves with Jordan Piggott and the fit-again Nathan Fox as wing-backs. Kyle Storer also returned following suspension.

Visitors Hitchin remained a Step 3 team despite finishing in last season’s relegation positions, thanks to Coalville’s decision to resign from the Southern League.

Manager Brett Donnelly had already begun his recruitment with Step 4 in mind, but his team showed they have a lot of determination and some ability. Donnelly felt his team gave the Bucks “a good going over”, and they certainly caused them problems, albeit some of those were also self-inflicted. Whether Hitchin can perform like this consistently is another matter, and for all they made the Bucks look shaky, they conceded five goals. Make of that what you will.

They say you can’t lose what you never had, so neither side could claim to have lost control of this contest.

It was harum-scarum stuff almost from the very beginning. Bucks keeper Brandon Hall had already had to make a sharp intervention to stop the visitors before defender Dan Sears went even closer, heading a free-kick narrowly over Hall’s crossbar from a central position, a few yards out.

The Bucks replied, and from their set-piece, a corner, they took the lead. Gudger showed commendable coolness to bring the ball under control at the far post before driving a firm, angled shot through a crowd of players in the six-yard box. It was deflected en route to hitting the net, but it was Gudger’s goal without question.

Did that settle the Bucks’ nerves after the midweek Stourbridge debacle? No, it didn’t.

Within ten minutes, the visitors led, scoring twice, three minutes apart. Their equaliser came from Coree Wilson, at the end of a swift move involving livewire skipper Liam Brooks and Lewis Franklin on the right. A leaden-footed rearguard didn’t deal with Franklin’s cross and although Wilson fluffed his first contact, he was able to regain control and beat Hall from a few yards out.

Brooks then turned scorer, and it was another poor goal defensively. Wilson flicked on a free-kick from goalkeeper James Callan and Brooks had already spun away into the box, reading Wilson’s contact. Storer also spotted the danger for the Bucks but couldn’t get to Brooks, who lifted the ball past an exposed Hall.

Wilkin’s side were in a hole they’d partially dug themselves, but although their defence had looked wobbly at one end, they looked equally lethal at the other.

Before the game reached the half-an-hour mark, the Bucks levelled again, and it was centre-half Whittall who launched a missile from 30 yards when he boomed his effort to the keeper’s right and saw it bulge the netting in glorious style.

Whilst the play remained chaotic, there were at least no more goals in the remaining twenty minutes of the half. Matty Stenson went close for the Bucks, narrowly failing to meet Ricardo Dinanga’s teasing cross to the near post. In reply, the Canaries’ Kieron Forbes had a shot blocked as Whittall’s headed clearance from a corner landed at his feet, 18 yards from the goal.

The half-time interval brought a change for the Bucks. Matty Stenson had limped from the field after sustaining an injury right on the whistle. The sight of Dior Angus warming up during the interval gave a clear signal that Stenson’s game was over.

If either manager asked their team to tighten up during the half-time team talk, it didn’t show. Forbes side-footed an effort high and wide from around the penalty spot when he was picked out by a low ball from the left. Pendley then conceded a corner in panicky fashion, but the Bucks held firm.

Bucks’ response was to retake the lead they’d lost. Angus began to cause problems, running in behind the defence, and when he broke free behind right-back Toby Syme, a covering colleague sent Angus to the floor for a penalty kick.

Storer is the regular penalty-taker, but Angus swiftly issued a plea to take the kick.

Storer admitted after the game that he felt allowing Angus to take the spot-kick was something he felt he ought to do to help his colleague get up and running, and Angus didn’t let him down. The striker put his penalty right into Callan’s bottom-right corner as the keeper dived left.

Wilkin must feel a little beleaguered at the moment, as within a couple of minutes of Angus’s goal, the Bucks lost Jordan Piggott to injury. The utility player took a blow on any already troublesome Achilles and tried to play on after treatment but was soon down and unable to continue. Ellis Myles, omitted by Wilkin, came on in his customary right-back spot, a like-for-like change.

Angus, freed from his goalless purgatory, looked like a man transformed, and running in behind Syme once more, he cut in to shoot instead of cross. His blocked effort ran to Remi Walker and the young midfielder, less of a presence in this game, cleared Callan’s crossbar narrowly with a dipping right-footer.

Just as the Bucks hinted at taking the game away from the Canaries, the visitors responded again. Brooks scored his second goal of the game, aided by more lax defensive cover in front of Hall, which allowed the Hitchin man to tee up and fire home a scudding low shot inside Hall’s left post from 25 yards.

Six goals had been scored, and a quarter of the game remained, but those present hadn’t seen anything yet.

Wilkin replaced Walker with Byron Moore, the ex-Crewe man perhaps introduced to help give the Bucks more composure on the ball. Jimmy Armson was also replaced on the right wing by the nimble and speedy Ellis Brown.

Angus continued to make his presence felt, and the same route to goal he’d exploited, on the Hitchin right, was where the Bucks’ fourth goal emerged from.

Dinanga, who’d switched wings to good effect all afternoon, glided into space behind the defence on the Bucks’ left, and he looked up to see Callan facing him down.

The keeper made an excellent block to deny Dinanga at his near post, but the ball rebounded into the Irish winger’s path, and he put the ball over the prone Callan from an angle to find the net.

Brown added the Bucks’ fifth. Taking on his back-pedalling full-back, Brown released a shot that struck the base of Callan’s near post, rebounding to hit the keeper on the back and trickle over the line.

The goal sealed the result, but it wasn’t the end of the scoring. Five minutes had been added on, Brown’s goal came in the third of those, and another Hitchin reply came in the fourth. It was another perfect hit, too, midfielder Jack Dreyer swinging at a dropping ball, and his swish sent the ball flying into Hall’s top-right corner.

The two goals scored in added time extended the game by a nerve-jangling ten minutes, but the Bucks saw the game out safely.

Wilkin was undoubtedly happy with the outcome, but given how much he values an efficient style, he won’t want his side to have to endure such agonies to earn points again.

AFC Telford United: Hall, Piggott (Myles 61), Gudger, Storer, Pendley, Whittall, Walker (Moore 69), Armson (Brown 76), Stenson (Angus 45), Dinanga, Fox. Subs: (unused) Burroughs.

Hitchin Town: Callan, Franklin, Syme, Barker, Sears, Jones, Dreyer, Forbes, Vincent, Wilson, Brooks. Subs: Quinlivan, Morrall, Deall.

Attendance: 1,017.