The season may not have turned on its head, but for Telford players and fans alike, this 4-0 routing of Wrexham has a side lacking badly in self belief, believing again in an improbable escape from the clutches of relegation.

Telford are unbeaten since an unfortunate 4-3 defeat to Eastleigh back on December 20th, and showed no signs of rust having not seen action since the 4th January when beating Aldershot Town 2-1. Now 8 points in the last 4 games and the Telford players are beginning to believe again, and that certainly showed as Tony Gray bagged two goals – his 10th and 11th goals of the season – while Neil Byrne and Sam Smith also found the back of Coughlin’s net.

The visitors found the net twice within the opening 8 minutes, Smith and Gray the scorers. Connor Jennings then saw red for his late tackle on Poku, and this would lead to Telford piling more misery on the hosts in the second half when Gray and Byrne scored on 58 and 73 minutes respectively.

Smith opened things up excellently when cutting in from the right to curl beyond Coughlin from 20 yards out, and as the visitors continued to pile on the pressure they made their dominance count when star front man Gray met right back Disney’s perfect right footed cross with a diving header for 2-0.

Wrexham didn’t know what had hit them and they couldn’t muster up enough attacking threat to test Hall in the Telford goal, the hosts picking up 3 shots on target by the final whistle.

Jennings then saw red when diving in recklessly on Poku, thankfully the key midfielder and fan favourite was okay to continue.

Poku showed his worth when running the length of the pitch before setting up Gray for goal number 3 for the away side, and ultimately it was game over.

With confidence exuding from the Telford players they added gloss to the scoreline when Neil Byrne nodded home unopposed from a corner kick. Telford saw out the rest of the game with ease, notching 68% possession.

New manager Steve Kittrick is now unbeaten in five matches in charge, this certainly his finest moment in his short reign. While Gray proved the star of the show again for the Bucks, it was new signing John Disney who might have impressed the boss the most with a great performance culminating in a perfectly placed assist on his debut.

Next up is a trip to AFC Flyde in the FA Trophy on Tuesday, before they head to Grimsby on January 31st in a Conference Premier meeting.

AFC Telford United
Starting XI: Hall, Disney, Byrne, Grogan, McLaughin, Farrell, Todd (Owens 74’), Poku, Rea, Smith⚽️ (Cooke 81’), Gray (Dixon 84’)

Unused subs: Hedge, Barnett

Wrexham
Starting XI: Coughlin, Carrington, Smith, White (Waterfall 46’), Ashton, York (Tomassen 46’), Harris, Evans (Clarke 71’), Jennings, Moult, Bishop

Unused subs: Bailey-Jones, Keates

Article by: Peter Wells