AFC Telford boss Gavin Cowan delighted with 'dominant performance'
Gavin Cowan is delighted his AFC Telford United players followed his instruction to play with freedom and cruised to a 3-1 victory over Nuneaton Borough.
The eighth-placed Bucks halted a run of three successive defeats by beating the National League North's bottom club.
Daniel Udoh, Brendon Daniels and Darryl Knights got the goals for Cowan's men before Mike Calveley's late strike.
"I just asked them to play with a bit of freedom," said Cowan.
"I asked them to play with some courage and get crosses in and shots off, just to go and believe.
"In our dressing room, there is a big expectation but, as a football club, our expectation is to get into the top half.
"I told them the expectation and maybe the pressure they were feeling was a bit of an illusion.
"Our expectation comes from within, but I think the football club would be happy to finish in the top half this year.
"I just wanted them to go and play with courage and freedom, and they did.
"They didn't look like a team that had not won in three league games.
"The idea is to go out and win the game - and do it in the manner I ask them to. They did it, and worked extremely hard."
It all could have gone very differently had Carl Baker converted a penalty, which Cowan felt should have 'never' been awarded, early on.
Lined up in an attack-minded 3-4-1-2 system, Telford had to be patient to break the deadlock, but Udoh did so with aplomb before a wonderful Daniels free-kick and deflected Knights finish.
"I felt as though that was the team to go out and win the game, and we absolutely did," said Cowan.
"We shored it up in the middle. We played Ellis (Deeney) and Jon (Royle) as opposed to Henry Cowans and James McQuilkin.
"We went a bit more attacking out wide but had that insurance in the middle.
"For 70 minutes, we were very dominant. In the last 20 minutes, we lacked a bit of ruthlessness.
"I've played in teams where, in the last 20 minutes, we've put teams to the sword, and we didn't really do that."
He added: "Overall, it was a very dominant performance. We didn't just have the three goals. We had a hatful of chances.
"We're shooting and scoring goals, so it's a real positive."
