Redditch v Telford: Kevin Wilkin urges Bucks to dig in once again
Kevin Wilkin has called for his AFC Telford United side to retain the ‘grittiness’ that got them through Saturday’s 2-1 win at Harborough Town.
The Bucks travel to Redditch United this evening in a quick turnaround from their weekend triumph, when they ended their run of three league games without a win.
And after having their resolve tested throughout the game against a robust Harborough outfit, Wilkin believes Telford will need to show similar qualities to overcome Tim Flowers’ side.
“They’re capable, I’ve seen that first hand, and on their day they can beat good teams, so we know we’re in for a tough evening,” the Telford boss said. “I look at yesterday’s performance, it was gritty and tough, and if we can take that attitude into this game we’ll give ourselves a really good chance.”
With six wins and five defeats so far this season inconsistency is the word when it comes to the Reds, who Wilkin believes are a match for any team in the Southern Central Premier.
“I watched them a week or so ago and they looked a competitive side,” he explained. “You’d say they have the capability to overcome any team, and they very much need respecting.
“There are good players in their ranks who we respect, and we have to understand their threats as well as the surface that they play on.
“It’s another 3G surface that we play on, and from what I remember from last season it’s a bit threadbare there.
“It was a tough game for us there, albeit one I feel like we probably should have won, but we went there really early on in the season.”
A win would see Telford move top of the table, for a day at least, although that is not a statistic the Telford hierarchy will be interested in for a while yet.
“We could go top, but we had the opportunity to do that against Barwell not long ago and didn’t turn up that day at all,” Wilkin said. “I’m not that bothered about it to be honest, that’ll take care of itself if we keep winning football matches and that’s all I’ll focus on.
“We want to put a better performance in than we did against Barwell on a Monday night on a 3G pitch, and hopefully we can do that off the back of a really strong and solid performance on Saturday.”
And after successfully changing to a 3-5-2 shape on Saturday, Wilkin remained coy about his tactical plans ahead of Telford’s trip to Worcestershire.
Wilkin said: “We’ll certainly have a look at (the formation), everything always comes into consideration. The lads applied themselves in exactly the way we wanted them to on Saturday, so it’d probably be harsh to take anybody out of the side.
“We can change the formation without changing the XI that started yesterday, which says a lot about the versatility of the likes of Jordan (Piggott), Byron (Moore) and Sam (Whittall). We’ve got that to think about, but it’s a decision we’ll make late.”
