Analysis: Job done for AFC Telford United as they edge towards business end

Goals at the end of both halves decided the destination of the points and owed much to the value of Jordan Cranston’s set-piece deliveries. His accuracy from the corner quadrant created headed goals for Harry Hawkins, the midfielder’s first for the club, and Matty Stenson, taking him to twenty-four for the season.

Kevin Wilkin’s team were undoubtedly far from their best in this encounter. The visitors might have looked like a team there for the taking, but they parted company with manager Marc Abbott on Thursday in a bid to launch a late-season survival bid. Although their lack of quality was evident, interim manager Danny Laws coaxed a committed display from his youthful team, which restricted the Bucks to few clear scoring opportunities.

Wilkin's changes may also have impacted his team’s fluency. One of the Bucks' features this season has been width in attacking positions, and the loss of Ricardo Dinanga in January was a significant setback. Wilkin will hope he has found Dinanga’s heir apparent in Dylan Hadley, but bedding him into the team at such a crucial juncture hasn’t yet yielded a significant impact.

Hadley played a more advanced role alongside Stenson, with a midfield diamond supplying them. Captain Luke Rowe was at the base of the diamond, with Max Brogan as the most advanced of the quartet, but with Hawkins and Remi Walker making up the four, there was a lack of natural width.

Wilkin opted to allow midfielder Jimmy Armson a further week’s absence from action, aiming to ensure he will be ready for the potentially pivotal fixture at Kettering next week. He also had to do without Sam Whittall, whose return from injury at Bromsgrove may, in retrospect, have been too soon. Whittall watched from the sidelines, with Orrin Pendley restored to the starting eleven.

Although not into their stride immediately, the Bucks began reasonably. Brogan struck a shot at keeper James Bradbrook after taking a Jid Fridye-Harper pass and advancing to the edge of the box. Bradbrook then had to dash outside his penalty area to thwart Hadley’s attempt to glide around him after being played through, and he was active again soon after, showing good touch to control a back pass and kick clear as Brogan bore down on him.

The promise of those moments didn’t solidify into anything more substantial. Sudbury, aided by some light-touch refereeing from Joel Buckle, began to impose themselves more. Rowe’s foul on Callum Page gave Sudbury an attacking free-kick, and Oliver Peters curled a shot wide of Brandon Hall’s right post from just over twenty yards out.

The Bucks responded by going closer to scoring than they’d managed up to that point. Stenson got above a defender’s jump to direct a downward header at goal from a left-wing cross, bringing a sprawling dive from Bradbrook and a block on the line by a covering defender. Several corner kicks followed, but none delivered a threat on goal, save for a Cranston shot from twenty-five yards, which went wide to Bradbrook’s left.

Sudbury may inwardly have been considering the first half a job well done, but in two minutes of time added by the officials, the Bucks broke through. Cranston’s accuracy from the quadrants has made the Bucks a much more significant threat, and when he got an opportunity to curl and dip the ball in from the right, the Sudbury defence failed to pick up Hawkins; the on-loan Derby County midfielder stole in at the near post and stooped in to direct a header past Bradbrook.

With the deadlock broken so close to the interval, there was barely time for the restart, and Laws’ team talk to his young team would have needed a quick rewrite. Sudbury would have to show more attacking intent to gain any reward.

As might he expected from a team in the bottom four and amongst the league’s lowest scorers, Sudbury lacked an authentic cutting edge. They increased their efforts, and the Bucks’ defence couldn’t afford any inattention, but Brandon Hall remained largely untroubled in the home net. Joe Neal galloped gamely in the channels, but the final ball was often lacking, whether from Neal or toward him.

However, they started to generate more restarts, and the delivery of free kicks, long throws, and corners into the penalty area began to test the Bucks. The home crowd, aware that their team had insufficient advantage on the scoresheet or in their performance level, started to get a little anxious.

Liam Pearce sent a shot too high to trouble Hall moments before being withdrawn as Sudbury sought to keep pushing, hoping the Bucks’ concentration might slip and allow them in. Jordan Piggott diverted a shot from substitute Marcel Lewis away from the goal, the ball bouncing up and off the turf, as Lewis returned it goalwards from a long throw only partially cleared.

Needing something to shift the changing momentum, Stenson almost provided it. The Bucks’ top scorer drove infield from wide on the right and into the box before running into a cluster of Sudbury defenders. The moment appeared to be gone until Stenson turned, nudged the ball through a defender’s legs and then lifted a chip towards goal that Bradbrook turned over for a corner as he backpedalled.

Soon after, Walker had appeals for a penalty dismissed after he burrowed into space on the right of the box and darted towards the goal, parallel to the goal line, only to tumble from an apparent clip of his heels.

With the game in its final ten minutes, Walker had an opportunity to kill Sudbury off when he stretched and retrieved Stenson’s low ball across the edge of the six-yard box. Walker brought the ball onto his right foot and past a defender in the same movement but could only strike his shot straight at Bradbrook.

Wilkin had introduced Byron Moore for Brogan and striker Ola Lawal for Hadley, and the latter contributed to the decisive goal. First, Lawal drew a foul to earn a free kick, and from the dead ball, he took the ball to the right corner flag before winning a corner off a defender. Ninety minutes were showing on the clock when Cranston again struck an inviting ball from the corner quadrant, and Stenson timed his run and leap to thunder a header past Bradbrook to seal the points.

The goal released significant tension in the crowd and Stenson himself, who admitted that after such a recent prolific spell, the prospect of a third game without a goal was unwelcome.

There may be more tense moments in the seven matches remaining in the Bucks’ regular season. Finding a way is undoubtedly the most critical quality Wilkin’s side can possess at this most crucial juncture of the campaign. With so little to choose between the top sides, being a team of substance is the order of the day; the style points can be added later.

Attendance: 1,291.

AFC Telford United: Hall, Fridye-Harper, Cranston, Piggott, Pendley, Hawkins, Brogan (Moore 82’), Rowe (c), Stenson, Hadley (Lawal 70’), Walker.

Subs: (unused) Myles, Hilton, Brown.

Scorers: Harry Hawkins (45+1’), Matty Stenson (90’).

Cautioned: Stenson, Fridye-Harper.

AFC Sudbury: Bradbrook, Lewis (Miles 65’), Goredema, Henshaw, Dickens, Pearce (Lewis 65’), Peters, Cox, Terminiello, Neal, Page (Turner 45’).

Subs (unused):

Cautioned: None.

Referee: Joel Buckle.

Assistants: Robert Slinger and Oliver Swindall.

Entertainment: ⅗.

Star Man: Jordan Piggott (defender, Telford).