Chorley boss ​Andy Preece happy to accept stroke of luck for a change

​After two successive away defeats at Leamington and Curzon Ashton where the Magpies were arguably the better team in both fixtures, they were rather fortunate to come away with all three points against an impressive AFC Telford United side at Victory Park.

The Bucks opened the scoring early and although the hosts equalised courtesy of a fortuitous strike from Tom Carr, the visitors were much the better team in the first half.

However, the Magpies – as they so often do – dug-in and found two goals in the second half to complete a 3-1 victory.

The result saw them move up a place to fourth in the table – four points shy of league leaders South Shields.

“I think I said after Tuesday night (2-0 defeat to Curzon Ashton) that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” said Preece told ChorleyFCTV. "We were lucky to get three points, especially first half. I thought Telford were excellent first half.

"We worked on it on Thursday night at training, trying to be more compact because they pass and move so well.

"When you defend the middle to make it difficult for them to play through you, they will then go on the outside.

"They have many different ways of getting in and so first half we were hanging on to be honest.”

After a hectic start to the season, the Magpies will be pleased to have a free week before they travel to NPL First Division West outfit Congleton Town in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup.

It will give an opportunity for the squad to get some much-needed rest after eight games in a month.

"It’s not been easy for us,” said Preece. “For us to get 16 points out of eight games, we are buzzing at the minute.

"That’s a fantastic return and now we have a little bit of a break.

“We don’t take any win for granted – we will take this one even though we got a little bit lucky.

"But we probably earned that luck from the previous two games.”