We have all moved on, says Kettering Town boss Cox

Kettering Town boss Paul Cox insists everyone has “moved on” from his links with the managerial role at AFC Telford United as the two teams prepare to meet at the New Bucks Head this weekend.

Cox held discussions with Telford about the then vacant role towards the end of October but, in the end, opted to stay at Latimer Park.

Former Warrington Town manager Paul Carden has since taken the hotseat at Telford and will take charge of his first home game at the helm against the Poppies tomorrow (Saturday).

And Cox insists his sole focus is on trying to find a win for his side who head to Shropshire on the back of three defeats in a row in all competitions.

“There are some really good people at Telford and I am working with some really good people here,” the Poppies manager said.

“We are going into a fixture, it’s a fixture I want to win and it’s a fixture both teams want to win for different reasons.

“It’s what it was. It’s just another page of the book. It didn’t happen and Telford have moved on and we have moved on.

“All I am concentrating on is going there to try to win a game. I am looking forward to it.”

The Bucks sit at the foot of the Vanarama National League North, although Carden’s first game in charge saw them claim a comfortable 4-0 win at Felixstowe & Walton United in the second round of the FA Trophy at the end of last month.

On the same day, Kettering were well beaten 3-0 at Gloucester City who were struggling in the league at the time and, since then, they have suffered another 3-0 loss at Hereford and a 3-2 defeat to Boston United last weekend, despite opening up a 2-0 lead after just seven minutes.

The Poppies have dropped down to 15th place in the table and Cox added: ““I have got to get this group to understand that no matter where you are in the table, there are no easy games in non-League football anymore.

“Clubs and players are becoming too professional and there are too many resources in the game for anyone to be taken for granted.

“I thought it was our undoing in the FA Trophy game at Gloucester. People were looking at Gloucester’s position in the table and the mindset was wrong going into that game.

“It’s a wake-up call going into the game on Saturday.

“You have seen teams put a run of results together and I think Telford will be a very dangerous animal this weekend.

“But everyone knows my mindset. I’m not bothered who we are playing on Saturday.

“I want us to maintain our performance levels from the game against Boston and cut out the sloppy, little, silly mistakes that we are being punished for.

“If we do that, we are more than capable of winning against anyone in the league.

“I know it’s boring but I just want some consistency and to get that we have to keep working hard.

“This is the first week for a while where we have had the players on the grass for a couple of training sessions so hopefully that helps us to really prepare well for the weekend.”