Fylde Ready For Redemption A Year After Worst Night

The Coasters have come unstuck “far too much” against the clubs at the wrong end of the National League this season.

The situation is perfectly summed by AFC Fylde’s April.

Defeats against Braintree and FC Halifax were paired with sensational wins over promotion chasers Salford City and Eastleigh.

Manager Challinor hopes his side continue to do the business against the better teams.

They meet Harrogate Town on Wednesday night live on BT Sport and the nerves are starting to set in for the fans.

It’s the first of the play-off Eliminators - but of course this is the point they fell flat last season.

We asked Challinor if he felt his team had improved since defeat to Boreham Wood 12 months ago as they up for the crunch game with Simon Weaver’s team.

“I think we are harder to beat and harder to score against,” he assessed, a year on from the game where he said his team didn’t have enough leaders.

“It was difficult to take but we learned a lot that night. I learned a lot about myself and maybe made a mistake.

“We have moved forward, this year we have home advantage in the Eliminator and hopefully we can make good use of it.”

He will be thankful there’s no bottom half team in town.

“Our record the sides in the bottom eight isn’t what it should be - it’s something that’s not lost on me,” he added.

“Thankfully they don’t get to compete in the play-offs!

“We have been good against the sides in and around us overall, so hopefully we can carry that forward.

“These are always big occasions and we want to make sure we go one better than last year.”