Buckaroo

AFC Telford United 2-2 Chorley (National League North)

A new ground and a new club tonight, growing up in the 90’s Telford United were a regular on the Grandstand vidi-printer as Des Lynam read out the scores from the GM Vauxhall Conference.

A fifth-tier club since the day the Alliance Premier League was formed in 1979, the Bucks stood for 24 years in the same division of English football until financial hardship in 2004. Liquidated with over £4m of debt, but with a brand spanking ground in the New Bucks Head, enter a new name, AFC would form through a supporter’s trust.

Since, the club have featured in the Northern Premier League and Conference North, in 2011 they gained promotion to the Conference Premier but lasted just two seasons, winning the Conference North in 2014 they returned to the National League but were relegated the season after, spending eight seasons at level 6 National North before a couple of campaigns in the Southern League Central Premier Division, last season under Kevin Wilkin they gained promotion via the playoffs and have this season returned to National North football, doing ok thus far, eighth in the league a place and a point behind those in the playoffs.

Chorley are another club with long history in the top echelons of non-league football, they were in the Conference for a couple of seasons during the late eighties/early nineties but were a Northern Premier League outfit until 1999, dropping down a division before eventual promotion back in 2011, they reached step 2 Conference/National North in 2014 and but for a single season in the National League (finishing bottom in 2019/20) they have been a staple at this level, now in their sixth season in the division.

Managed by former Stockport, Bury and Blackpool striker Andy Preece, they are fourteenth in the league and lost a tight derby v Radcliffe last time out, prior to that, they were unbeaten in three, but form has been stop-start this season with eleven wins, eight draws and twelve defeats so far.

I’ve had my head in emails all day, I made the batter for some pancake mix and promised the wife I would cook some up for lunch but her patience has worn thin, she’s taking over in the kitchen and doing a pretty good job, teamwork, it’s usually me who does all the tossing on Shrove Tuesday.

The Venue

Telford from Nottingham is an awkward commute, the quickest is the most expensive across the M6 toll which I don’t want to do, the next best up the M6 past Birmingham where it can get pretty busy, again not what I really want to do, so I choose option 3, no tolls or traffic from the A38 where I pass Burton and Litchfield, the south side of Cannock and the idyllic small town of Shareshill before finally hitting the M54 near almost two hours of driving.

The New Bucks Head isn’t actually in Telford, which is the opposite side of the motorway, it’s in Wellington to the North, and it’s eerily quiet around here.

I’ve pulled up on Haybridge Road outside the college before walking down towards the ground an hour ahead of kick off. You can see the dim lights in the background of the stadium less than 500 yards away, but there’s not many people, not many cars, it reminds me a bit of Gainsborough, another sleepy town with football heritage.

I walk past a Domino’s Pizza and into the West Stand Car Park, the back of the stand is huge, but the lighting is dim, there’s hardly anyone around which prompts me to check my phone and see if the game is in fact on. I’m crossing my fingers that I’ve not come all this way for it to be called off.

Luck has it we’re still good, and as I get closer to the turnstiles, I do see a couple of fans waiting outside for the doors to open, a gate opening for disabled access has me chance to ask a steward if I can gain entry, after a bit of deliberation he lets me in. “Media” I tell him. “Have you got your ticket?”… As I fumble for my phone he responds, “It’s ok, I trust you”..

Inside upon my first viewing at pitch level, whilst walking up to the media seats, I’m actually in awe of this large, smart, modern, quite cute looking home that is more than good enough for hosting league football.

It has real quirk, the West Stand blue seated is large with boxes at the back as the stadium wraps around with rounded roofing behind each goal, and opposite has a grey brick standalone almost nostalgic looking building that gives a throwback backdrop to what you can imagine is a 1970’s non-league home with players playing in full mudded whites with moustaches and crap hair. I love the place, big wide pitch in smashing condition, homely, intimate, but spacious and modern with all you need, great for viewing the game, even an electronic scoreboard stands tall, as post-millennium stadiums go, this is one of the quirkiest and nicest looking to be built.

I’m up to my seat at the back of the stand as I follow a presenter up the steps from Radio Shropshire, the Chorley media team are here, I have a quick chat with them about their form before I’m joined by a scout from Genius called Jamie, he’s wearing a Bayer Leverkusen woolly hat and he’s talkative, a nice lad who hops around from club to club watching football in Wales and the West Midlands.

By now the players are out, stretching, the fans are appearing, slowly, the venue filling nicely, this West Stand we are in is packing the punters, as is the one to my left, the David Hutchison Stand behind the goal is where all the noisy fans go, opposite in the open there’s a few hard core braving the cold, to my right, the terrace down below is closed for business, the crowds around here have often been over a thousand this season, there’s room for over 6k inside this building at full capacity.

The Game

It’s my first viewing of Chorley this season, my first of Telford ever, the home side in all white start passing like Real Madrid, the visitors in cherry red look like Heart of Midlothian, it’s nice to see two classic but simple kits, the all in one number always looks so pleasing on the eye.

Telford are very good, they have pace in attack, their right back Ammar Dyer gets forward well, he’s rapid but his heavy touch causes all sorts of problems committing defenders to dive in, if they win the ball Dyer is out of position, if they don’t, then danger.

Another dangerman is left winger Charlie Williams, he’s been brilliant, running at defenders and creating opportunity, there’s been a couple of sniffs for the hosts, but Chorley look to have overcome the worst of it, that is, until Adam Henley tries a right to left cross field pass which is terrible, landing at the feet of Remi Walker in the centre circle he sends Dylan Allen-Hadley away and the striker puts on the burners, running past Chorley’s 37-year-old centre half Mark Ellis, to calmly slot home, that was just what the ageing defender needed, to be isolated one-on-one against youthful pace.

The remarkable thing is it soon happens again, somehow Ellis has been left stranded alone with Allen-Hadley running through on goal, he’s quick, but probably looks quicker against Ellis, he runs through on 35 to almost identically do what he did on 22, a low calm right footed finish into the corner of the net, it’s all too easy, they need to defend better than that, do Chorley.

The Score

The away side have had a couple of long range efforts and have a couple of busy players in their own attack, captain Milan Lalkovic is full of running in the ten slot, out left Max Wilson is snappy and creative, but Telford are head and shoulders the better team, dominating a first half and seemingly shifting up the gears as and when they want to.

I’m hardly expecting anything bar a routine win but after the half time interval, I’m disappointed with how Telford start. Suddenly Chorley have the ball and are getting it out wide to pepper their hosts goal, Clarke drives low when sent through to force a brilliant stop by Gracey who dives low to his left, he flicks around the post, just, but from the resulting corner, Taelor O’Kane finds the ball falling down to his feet, making no mistake to belt into the roof of the net.

It’s deserved for Chorley who look a better more organised team in the second half, they play with more controlled aggression, a bigger more direct team, less technical than Telford, they start to do the basics better and all of a sudden they believe, O’Kane plays with more confidence as he dives in to win a tackle, Lalkovic comes to life and as he’s slid inside the box Jordan Cranston chops him down, even I shout ‘penalty’ it’s that obvious to call, what was the defender doing? Lalkovic does the rest.

At 2-2 the game felt like anybody’s as Chorley looked for another, Telford then bucked up their own ideas and during a ten minute spell it could have gone either way, but late on Andy Preece shown his cards, bringing on a bit of experience to see out the match for a solid and valuable point on the road, perhaps it does neither team no good, but it could have been worse, or even better, for both.

The Stars

There was a lot to like from Telford’s first half performance where they looked like a good front foot footballing team, I really liked Williams down the left and Allen-Hadley took his goals brilliantly, a confident footballer and a classy finisher with pace, looks to be a player that can do it a level above at least.

I was disappointed with Remi Walker who’s been Telford’s top scorer this season, the playmaking number ten is neat on the ball and thick set but hardly moved all night, Thakbolo Leshabela did plenty of running in midfield including some for Walker, as did Ammar Dyer from right full back who provided good positive wing play when getting into the final third.

For Chorley, a friend of mine had a son playing and he was at least on the scoresheet, Taelor O’Kane is a twenty-year old footballer on loan from Fylde who I believe is capable of big things, a holding midfielder athletic in size, neat in possession, he reads the game well and can apparently also nick a goal.

At nineteen and on loan from Preston Max Wilson was busy and lively in attack, whilst their captain Milan Lalkovic worked hard, Warren Clarke on their left side, also doing well from both forward and defensive perspective.

The Verdict

Telford’s point actually places them in the playoffs at the expense of Macclesfield who have three games in hand following the Silkmen’s recent FA cup run, this is probably why the point wasn’t enough, on the night, against a side they should have perhaps, beat at home.

Chorley are fourteenth and they’ll take heart from their comeback second half performance where for large parts they were much the better side, both I think will be seeing each other in the National League North next season, although if Telford can string their first forty five into a full ninety and get a decent run together, I wouldn’t rule them out of being an outside bet for promotion, should they be able to make the playoffs. A good team, some good players, and a bloody good home of football they have.

The Teams

AFC Telford United: Josh Gracey, Jordan Cranston (Rhys Hilton 84), Jordan Piggott, Alex Fletcher, Charlie Williams (Ricardo Dinanga 79), James Meadows, Dylan Allen-Hadley, Oliver Cawthorne, Thakbalo Leshabela (James Armson 80), Remi Walker (Olu Lawal 84), Ammar Dyer.

Chorley: Matt Urwin, Adam Henley, Mark Ellis, Harvey Smith, Jack Sampson (Anjola Popoola 65), Warren Clarke (Jack Moore 90), Taelor O'Kane (Mike Calveley 84), Adam Blakeman, Owen German, Milan Lalkovic, Max Wilson.

7:45pm Kick Off. Tuesday 17th February 2026, New Bucks Head, Telford (att 1,126).