Kevin Wilkin needs to lift Telford after unbeaten run ends

Wilkin’s men delivered a sub-par performance in Leicestershire, with home captain Brady Hickey scoring twice, converting a fourth-minute penalty and a second-half injury-time clincher as the Bucks struggled to get going.

Wilkin understood some of the annoyance directed at his team from a small minority but insisted that the supporters’ hurt would be mirrored by the players.

“Yeah, it wasn’t good enough (the performance),” he said. “I think we looked lethargic, and clearly, we weren’t concentrating from minute one, and that’s my fault; I need to lift the lads and get them up there and focused.

“Our concentration levels, to give Barwell a penalty as we did, and so early on? It’s not good enough. I expect better concentration levels from the players, and I think they’ll expect better.”

Wilkin’s team were playing a second away game in a little over 48 hours after Saturday’s draw at AFC Sudbury, but Wilkin wasn’t prepared to offer that in mitigation.

“A second game in three days is the same for both sides, but you can’t start in that manner and then give yourself a hill to climb,” the boss added. “That became a bit of a mountain at times that we found difficult. Credit to Barwell; they stuck it away, and that’s all the encouragement they needed, and they just proved really difficult to break down, and too many of our players tonight weren’t able to recognise and understand what was required.”

Wilkin took his share of the blame also, saying: “I have to take responsibility for that; it’s one of the few games this season where we haven’t created any real chances, to be honest, and that’s disappointing because most of the rest of the games that we’ve played in, we have created chances and moments and opportunities and been guilty of not taking them.

“That’s not the case [here]. We were relying on scraps, and it took us a long while to get focused, and it took far too long for us to start imposing ourselves on the game.”