Coasters bounce back from heavy defeat with dramatic Mill Farm victory

AFC Fylde gave a sensational response to Saturday's heavy defeat at Boreham Wood with a thrilling 3-1 comeback win over Hartlepool United at Mill Farm.

The Coasters scored all their goals in the final 13 minutes of normal time on Tuesday night, having trailed for most of the game.

Following Saturday's 4-0 thumping by the National League leaders, Craig Mahon's side made the worst of starts as they fell behind inside three minutes. However, the late fightback kept them in seventh place in the table.

Fylde gave a debut to goalkeeper George Pickford, a short-term signing from Everton, and first starts to two fellow loanees – forwards Kyrell Malcolm (Salford City) and Luke McCormick (Yeovil Town).

Buoyed by back-to-back wins, former Fleetwood Town boss Pete Wild’s Pools made a perfect start as Will Harris struck for the second game in a row after being teed up by Max Clark.

Keeper Pickford wasn't fazed by the early goal and soon made a key save to deny Harris a second.

At the other end, McCormick's header was held by Adam Smith but Fylde struggled to turn pressure into clear-cut chances and it remained 1-0 at half-time.

It was a similar story in the second half, though Fylde were grateful for a goal-line clearance from Chris Merrie to thwart Pools substitute Chris Popov.

McCormick fired over from Aaron Drewe's cutback before scoring the equaliser on 77 minutes to trigger a terrific turnaround.

Three minutes later, Millar Matthews-Lewis pounced on a loose ball for his first Fylde goal.

And the victory was complete on 90 minutes, when fellow substitute Jack Morris made it 3-1.

A delighted Mahon said: "It's exactly the reaction we wanted from Saturday. The lads were outstanding.

“It was frustrating to give the goal away so early, but we said at half-time that if we want to do anything special this year and be in amongst it, then we needed leaders and people to stand up and the lads have done that."

Fylde are back at Mill Farm on Friday evening to face Hornchurch.

FYLDE: Pickford, Drewe, Lancaster, C Whelan, Broad, T Whelan, Merrie (Mitchell 73), McCormick, Malcolm (Allen-Hadley 73), Mayor (Morris 62), Main (Matthews-Lewis 57); Not used: Boyes, Taylor