Get back to basics, says AFC Telford skipper Shane Sutton

The Bucks have been training hard after their unbeaten run was brought to a halt at Darlington.

And Sutton, after the squad watched the 3-0 loss back, said: “Everything we had been doing, we didn’t do.

“It was just one of those games. We put it down to concentration levels not being where they needed to be.

“It’s just about getting back to what we were doing in the eight games previous, making sure we get those basics right.

“A loss is never good, it knocks us down a bit, so we’ve got to get back to basics.”

Sutton is in his second year with Telford and speaks very highly of boss Gavin Cowan.

The 29-year-old centre-half feels the Bucks are an entirely different prospect to what they were last term.

On how things have changed, he said: “Last year, if we lost a game, we changed things a bit, changing formation and stuff like that.

“Now, it’s about sticking to the game-plan or, as the manager puts it, sticking to the process.

“There was some very good recruitment over the summer and the gaffer just focuses on the ‘set-up’.

“It’s basically just all about the fact if the ball is in one area, then all of us should be about 10-15 yards from each other. We’re very compact.

“Last year, the aim was to play out from the back but then, when we lost the ball, we didn’t really know what to do. “We didn’t really know whether to stay or go.

“Now it’s about man-marking, following your man and having that responsibility. Everyone knows their jobs.”

Nine games into the campaign, Telford sit second in National League North on 18 points.

“I was gutted on Saturday and Sunday after we lost but I had a look at the table and realised we’re still second,” added Sutton.

“That just shows how well we’ve done. As players, we set ourselves points targets for groups of games and we’re well on course to achieve our next target.

“To get there, we’ve just got to get back to all the things we did in those first eight games.”