Chorley 1 AFC Telford 0 - Report

The Bucks must, however, focus on the positives if they are to ensure their survival, and they would have left Victory Park feeling that this display, particularly in the second half, was worthy of a point.

Failure to collect any points in their last two matches has only ratcheted up the tension for Paul Carden’s team. They now have only three matches remaining, and sit just two points above last-placed Guiseley, a situation that could have been worsened; however, a goal in the 88th minute from former Buck Tom Peers meant the Yorkshire side were pegged back and had to settle for a 2-2 draw, when a win would have brought the two sides level on points.

This defeat for the Bucks was very different in nature to their 1-0 defeat in their previous match, at Hereford, but as Carden remarked afterwards, there is no column in the league table for good performances, just points and goals; with their fate in the Vanarama National League North still in the balance, points from either of their last two matches would have been welcome, regardless of how they were obtained.

Chorley, managed by former Bucks player Jamie Vermiglio, started the game with much more positive intent and had Carden’s team struggling to establish a foothold in the early stages. The defensive reorganisation forced upon Carden by the absence of Harry Flowers (suspended) and Jordan Piggott (injury and illness) meant that Zak Lilly partnered Reiss McNally, and their pair took a little time to settle as the Magpies flew at them.

Switching back to a 4-4-2 formation, Carden had also put Brendon Daniels and Byron Moore back into his starting XI, but neither had much early opportunity to influence matters. Chorley midfielder Shenton was unable to take an early chance, firing an angled shot across goal and wide of Luke Pilling’s left post, whilst neither Jack Sampson or the tricky Millenic Alli were positioned to convert a low ball from the right.

The right-hand side was the source of Chorley’s next attack, although Brad Holmes might have done better to stay on his feet than to try and win a penalty when Lilly’s fair but firm intervention gave him the chance to tumble inside the penalty area.

Alli and Sampson were involved in the build-up to what was probably the Magpies clearest chance; Alli’s dangerous cross was retrieved and when Sampson hooked the ball on towards the penalty spot, full-back Adam Blakeman, normally fairly deadly from distance, couldn’t keep his rasping effort down, clearing the crossbar.

All that happened in the opening ten minutes, and the early pummelling continued. Lilly headed a dangerously inswinging corner off the line, and it took a stoppage in play to give the Bucks a chance to gather themselves, as the respective captains, Jason Oswell and Chorley’s Scott Leather, both needed attention after a heading duel left both on the turf.

The Bucks appeared to be turning back the tide; Daniels and Devarn Green wasted a good free-kick opportunity when the former tapped the ball to an unprepared Green who couldn’t release a shot from a promising position, and the ball began to spend less time in the Bucks’ half.

Sampson got a touch on another Blakeman effort from the edge of the box, but only succeeded in directing it wide of Pilling’s goal rather than away from the keeper, but in the 28th minute the Bucks resistance was broken. Liam Nolan blocked an Alli shot to concede a corner, and when Will Tomlinson’s delivery was headed clear the Bucks perhaps felt the danger had passed. It hadn’t, and the dangerous Billy Whitehouse beat a challenge to deliver a low cross that Shenton drilled home from 10 yards past Pilling.

The Bucks had a couple of half-chances before the end of the half; Robbie Evans cleared the bar after Ryan Burke’s cross was headed back towards him at the far post, McNally reached but couldn’t control his header from a dangerous Daniels free-kick and Lilly had a shot blocked from the edge of the area as another free-kick from Burke brought the game to half-time.

The Bucks needed more urgency, more control and more sights of goal, and all three began to emerge after the break. The gusting winds meant keeping the ball on the floor was imperative, and Carden’s half-time instruction to his team, simply to “pass the ball” changed the flow of the game almost entirely.

Chorley did have a couple of early free-kicks that they couldn’t take advantage of, but the Bucks’ belief began to grow. McNally’s despairing headlong dive could only direct a Daniels free-kick over the bar to keeper Matt Urwin’s left, and Urwin then snatched a Melhado cross away from Oswell, after a Moore cross had caught on the wind and blown back for Melhado to try a flatter delivery.

Pilling then kept the Bucks in the game on the hour, as Whitehouse’s deft cross was nodded towards the far side of Pilling’s goal, bringing a terrific save from him as he dived to his left to scoop the ball away.

That was to be the hosts’ last moment of note, as Carden’s team dominated the last half-hour, but without ever being clinical enough to make it count. Almost immediately from Pilling’s save, the Bucks counter-attacked, and although Daniels skipped around Urwin he was driven slightly wide and could only find the side netting with his shot.

Daniels then fired a 25-yard free-kick over the defensive wall but just too high to trouble Urwin, and from another free-kick the Bucks won a corner where some inventiveness almost opened the door. Daniels was stationed at the near post but darted away to receive the kick, taken low, and then turned the ball to Green in a choreographed move that Green couldn’t finish, his shot being blocked.

Holmes replied by dragging a shot wide for the hosts, and Carden introduced his assistant Carl Baker for the final 20 minutes. The hope had to be that Baker’s composure could unpick

the Chorley defence, who were growing content to clear the ball aimlessly downfield, giving it straight back to the Bucks.

An appeal for a penalty as Green’s shot was blocked, possibly by a hand, was given short shrift, and Green was involved in another more vociferous penalty claim when he appeared to be caught by a high boot when taking control of Burke’s cross from the left.

In the 84th minute, Lilly almost capped his return to the side when he made firm contact with a Daniels free-kick but saw Urwin fingertip his header just over the crossbar, as Carden urged his side to “keep pushing”. Oswell headed wide from around the penalty spot from a corner and Baker struck the side netting when twisting and turning to create space, albeit from a narrow angle.

Three minutes of added time brought more Bucks possession and territory, but not the desired outcome, and as the whistle was blown to end the game the numerous Bucks players slumped or laid flat out prone on the turf told a story of another game that had frustratingly brought no reward.

Referee: Aaron Bannister.

Assistants: William Vaughan, Alexander Beckett.

Attendance: 986.

AFC Telford United (4-3-3): Pilling, Melhado, Burke, McNally, Lilly, Nolan, Evans, Daniels, Moore, Green, Oswell.

Subs not used: Ward, Streete, Marshall.

Chorley FC (4-3-3): Urwin, Halls, Leather, Baines. Blakeman, Whitehouse, Tomlinson, Shenton, Holmes, Sampson, Alli.

Subs not used: Blyth, Carroll, Bright, Hall.

Scorer: Shenton (28).