Head coach hails a positive pre-season workout for AFC Fylde against Blackpool

Craig Mahon was satisfied after watching his AFC Fylde team begin their pre-season programme with defeat to Blackpool last weekend.

The Coasters were beaten 3-2 at Mill Farm, where Mahon saw one of his new signings, Dylan Allen-Hadley, score twice as well as Danny Ormerod make his return from injury.

“Really happy, obviously it’s playing two different XIs and trying to get back into how we play and how we want to look when we’re playing,” said the head coach, whose players are back in action at Hyde United on Tuesday (7pm).

“Overall, you can’t grumble at that performance from the lads against a top League One team; no injuries coming out of it, getting Danny Ormerod back on the pitch, it’s a positive day for the club.”

Blackpool were the first of three League One teams to visit Mill Farm before the new season, with Huddersfield Town and Wigan Athletic making the journey on July 18 and 25 respectively.

As well as helping the Coasters to build up their fitness and integrate the new signings, Mahon also believes that kind of opposition provides valuable lessons to be learned.

He added: “We have a style and a way of playing, and we want to be challenged; not just on the field, off the field as well.

“I’m looking to see what their manager’s doing during the game; is he making changes, is he changing tactics?

“Myself and the staff want to better ourselves as well, but it’s great that we can get games against top teams like this and we can get to see what they’re doing and see how far we’re off.

“We’ve just got to keep challenging ourselves and that gets us ready for the start of the season.”