Leamington v Telford preview: Buoyant Bucks braced for a tough test on the road

The Bucks travel to Warwickshire off the back of consecutive home wins against Stratford and Alvechurch in the Southern Central Premier.

But they will be hard pushed to make it three in a row against The Brakes who have started well since their relegation from the National League North.

“They’ve kept the backbone of what was their last season and there are plenty of experienced campaigners in the group,” Wilkin said. “We’ve kept very few players from last season whereas Leamington haven’t had to make anywhere near as many changes off the back of that.

“The playing surface is far removed from what we have at the New Bucks Head and so is the way they achieve results. It’ll be a very attritional game and a real stiff test for us.

“We understand what they do and how effective they can be, but if we bring what we’re capable of to the table it’ll be a game to look forward to.”

The Telford manager was pleased with his side’s performance in midweek against Alvechurch but admitted there is still more work to be done before he will be happy.

“I never settle, and I never rest, I’m glad we got the result, but I still wasn’t totally happy with the performance and if I was we would have a problem,” he said. “I want to win games more comfortably; I want to manage games better.”

Wilkin also highlighted the importance of keeping clean sheets, something his side did for the first time in seven games on Tuesday night.

“We need to be tougher against the ball, we’ve conceded too many goals for me this season,” he said. “The basis of being successful is not giving cheap goals away and we’ve done that too often this season.

“We’re making some changes that I’m pretty sure will remedy that situation.”

The defensive improvement has been helped by Nathan Fox’s return to the side after a long injury.

New signing Sam Whittall has been used at centre-back alongside Orrin Pendley, allowing the impressive Jordan Piggott to move further forward.

And Wilkin singled the latter out for special praise after his match-winning goal on Tuesday night.

“Jordan is a shining example of how to establish yourself within a team,” he said. “He’s been fantastic for us this season; a real driving force and I had no hesitation in naming him captain in the absence of Fraser.”

There are no new injury concerns for Telford ahead of the weekend, somewhat surprising given their torrid luck so far this season.

Twariq Yusuf, Brad Bood and Fraser Kerr are all expected to miss out but may have parts to play as the fixtures pile up in the coming weeks.

Montel Gibson returned from injury against Alvechurch and came through unharmed, while Jared Hodgkiss was an unused substitute having recovered from a shoulder injury.