Murray Sick Of Being Told Fylde Are Better Than Table Suggests

The AFC Fylde manager has seen his team endure a very challenging start to the new season following their promotion back in May.

But he now thinks they’re going to turn the corner after Saturday’s 2-1 win at Southend United lifted his team off the bottom of the table.

More was expected of the National League North champions and Murray says their recent five-game losing run hurt him more than anything else in his long career in the game.

The former Mansfield midfielder, a champion with the Stags ten years ago, said he’s sick to the back teeth of people telling him Fylde are better than their position suggests.

“This is the toughest period I have been through in football, and not just in coaching,” he said after the important weekend win in Essex.

“We felt like we were doing so much right, but things just have not been going our way. Against Southend we maybe didn’t play out best but we showed an unbelievable desire and team spirit to grind the result out.

“I’m happy for the players and for our supporters - it took them about three days to get to the game!

“They’ve not had much to smile about in recent weeks but I’m so happy. We’ve been gutted that we’ve been unable to give them more points than what they deserve so far.”

Tonight, the Coasters host Boreham Wood and they are looking to move out of the early bottom four with three points against Luke Garrard’s team.

Murray hopes what rival manager Kevin Maher said to him after Saturday’s game goes on to be true.

“We’ve had to adapt certain things that we do, we’re a free flowing open team and we’ve got to find the balance doing the rubbish bits,” he told the club’s video player.

“I’ve been getting fed up of people telling me we’re a good team and we’ll be fine when we’re not winning games. But Kev Maher, the Southend manager, told me that we remind him a lot of Gateshead last year. Slow to start but they stuck to their process and now they’re one of the top teams. We’ve got to stick to our principles.”

PHOTO BY STEVE McLELLAN