AFC Telford boss finally happy with his numbers

In a Southern Central Premier campaign where no side has managed to pull away from the six-strong pack of title chasers, the Bucks’ undoing has regularly been their inability to change games from the bench.

In fact, such has been their issues with the squad, Kevin Wilkin has been forced to name less than five substitutes on the bench on several occasions this term.

However, after a busy two months that have seen nine arrivals and five departures, as well as a clear shift in favour of signing younger players with potential, the Bucks boss is finally pleased with the make-up of his squad, albeit later on in the season than he would have liked.

“Players have gone, and we were comfortable with letting most of them go to try and move things around,” Wilkin explained. “(Alex) Gudger has gone, (Kyle) Storer has gone, (Reece) Styche has gone, and they were all older players compared to these younger lads we’ve recruited.”

He added: “Ricardo (Dinanga) obviously left as well so we were always looking to strengthen the squad, and sometimes you have to be patient with it because things won’t always drop into place for you.

“That’s been the case this season and it’s still the case now – if they had been available to us sooner and we could’ve got the deals done sooner then it would’ve happened.

“We’ve said on numerous occasions that we wouldn’t be doing any knee-jerk type things, and these are all players we’ve held an interest in for a while.

And Wilkin admitted there could still be movement before the transfer deadline later this month.

“We’ll have a look at one or two potentially going out on loan, but most importantly it’s about people staying up to their work and keeping us really competitive,” he said. “We’re obviously approaching deadline day so it’s important that we have decent numbers at that stage that can cope with any eventualities.

“If people are in the team and doing their job then hopefully we can stay with a settled team and a settled squad.”

The latest addition to the Telford squad is Oliver Crawford, a Venezuelan-born centre back who has been training with the club since his return to England from Panama.

And his new manager is hopeful the 23-year-old can make an immediate impact on his side.

“His father dropped us a line to tell us he was returning from playing in the professional leagues in Panama, and we got him in to have a look at him,” Wilkin revealed. “I like what I’ve seen from him, and hopefully he can come in and have a good effect.

“He’s trained with us several times now and fingers crossed he comes in and does alright.”

The Bucks boss finished: “He’s 23 so he’s at the right sort of age for us, and he’s certainly fit enough (to play immediately).

“Oliver works really hard in training and looks like he takes care of himself, so there are no issues on that front.

“He’ll provide a bit of depth at centre-back for us, and if he can come in and hit the ground running it’ll hopefully help stop the poor goals against record.”

Crawford is the only player at the club waiting to make his debut for the Bucks, after new signings Jahdahn Fridye-Harper, Ola Lawal and Dylan Allen-Hadley all featured in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Bromsgrove Sporting.