AFC Telford analysis: Bucks fail to see silver lining after being denied at the death

The home side levelled this game in second-half injury time to cancel out Jimmy Armson’s headed opener and earn a share of the spoils, writes Rich Worton.

Kevin Wilkin’s side grafted against a similarly hardworking but uninspired Glassboys and were a handful of minutes from securing three precious points, but they couldn’t withstand a final heave-ho from the home side.

Wilkin was phlegmatic in the game’s aftermath, reflecting that perhaps a point each was a fair reflection, but it felt very much like a game where the Bucks didn’t do enough to win it, rather than the Glassboys not deserving to lose.

Wilkin’s tempered disappointment may have had something to do with his side's composition. Hugely-experienced duo Kyle Storer and Jordan Cranston were both absent through suspension, and a knee problem that flared up after last weekend’s fixture for Jakub Kruszynski meant the Mansfield loanee travelled but sat this one out.

Armson returned in place of Kruszynski, while Wilkin gave a debut to Derby County loan midfielder Harry Hawkins and a surprise introduction to Shrewsbury Town’s Joe Morris.

Morris has been training with the Bucks on what the club described as ‘work experience’, and Wilkin showed no hesitation in giving the 18-year-old his first start.

There was still plenty of experience in the side, and Morris and Hawkins acquitted themselves well under grey and blustery Black Country skies. The playing surface cut up underfoot in next to no time, and Stourbridge were more than happy to test the Bucks stomach for the battle.

The early stages were untidy, and the game’s first booking came seven minutes in. Midfielder Remi Walker looked set to run at the home defence after picking up the ball close to halfway, but Glassboys skipper Joel Kettle steamed in and clattered Walker, leaving him in a heap and requiring attention from physio Beth Lewis.

The Bucks’ brightest moment of the half came into the three minutes added by the officials. A Callum Smith goal-kick was held up in flight on the halfway line by the gusts that buffeted the War Memorial Athletic Ground all afternoon. Sam Whittall rose to win a header, and Matty Stenson gave chase, with the forward’s ungainly style, flailing arms and legs pumping hard, winning him the ball. Stenson advanced, cut inside on to his right foot and sent a curling shot to Smith’s right from just inside the box. Smith pushed the ball away to safety to keep the scoresheet blank.

The second period delivered more of the same, with both teams battling to overcome the conditions and their opponents.

The Glassboys had the help of the wind at their backs in this period and probably exploited it better than the Bucks. The wind frequently made Stourbridge’s deliveries into the box a game of chance and anticipation. The Bucks emerged unscathed, but it was hard to dismiss the feeling that a mistake aided by the conditions might be decisive.

Morris, a tall presence on the right of the defence with a mop of curly hair, did collect a booking on his debut, taking down a Glassboys player close to the halfway line to prevent a threat from developing.

It gave the hosts another set-piece opportunity, and the Bucks partially cleared before Stourbridge built a second opportunity - Jordaan Brown’s header towards goal from Jourdain Masidi’s cross was smartly stopped at his near post by Hall, although it took two attempts to bring the ball under control.

The Bucks were playing on the counter-attack, keeping the ball on the floor so as not to surrender it to the windy conditions, and in the 57th minute, they made the breakthrough.

Armson was both the architect and the man to apply the coup de grace, leading the Bucks forward from halfway with the Glassboys backpedalling and slipping the ball through for Ricardo Dinanga on the right of the box. Smith saved his powerful shot, but the keeper’s intervention sent the ball spinning into the gloom of the night sky. Armson followed up, got ahead of the covering Brown and leapt to head the ball past Smith’s despairing attempts on the line.

Both sides began to make changes to freshen things up and although clear chances weren’t coming, the Glassboys were slowly building pressure.

Armson was behind much of the Bucks’ best work in response, a calm head amid the mayhem, and in the 73rd minute, he almost doubled the lead.

Ellis Brown, lively on the left following his introduction, helped create the opportunity, and Armson’s flighted shot from the edge of the box was headed into Smith’s top-right-hand corner until the keeper got there to paw it away, effectiveness winning over style.

But Stour's biggest threat was set-piece situations, and in injury time, the Glassboys found the delivery they had needed all afternoon.

The Bucks conceded a free-kick on their left, another opportunity for the hosts to load the penalty area. Wilkin quickly sent on Alex Gudger for Morris, a decision questioned by some fans afterwards, and from the kick, the Bucks conceded a corner. The delivery from the Glassboys' right picked out defender Brown, and although the Bucks blocked his powerful header on the line, substitute Alex Brown forced the ball in.

While the equaliser wasn’t inevitable, the pressure exerted on the Bucks had finally paid off. A point away from home against another side in the top five in challenging conditions, and with two debutants, would undoubtedly look like a reasonable return. However, knowing that it was so close to being the maximum reward made this one hard to swallow for the Bucks and their followers.

AFC Telford United: Hall, Morris(Gudger 90+3), Piggott, Hawkins, Pendley, Whittall (c), Walker (Brown 60’), Moore (Myles 75’), Stenson (Styche 82), Dinanga, Kruszynski.

Stourbridge: Smith, Bavangana, Worley, Lewis, Brown, Kettle (c), Mandey (Jones 86), Unitt (Durrell 75), Bradley (Freemantle 66), Masidi (Fletcher 75), McLeod (Pais 75).