AFC Fylde 0, Braintree Town 2: Ustabasi sees red as Coasters slip to another defeat

​Goals from Jermaine Francis and Kyrell Lisbie in either half condemned Fylde to a disappointing result at Mill Farm.

Fylde dominated the early stages of the contest but almost fell behind after a quarter of an hour as Kyrell Lisbie got in behind and looked to square the ball across the face of goal, but Corey Whelan produced a brilliant tackle to keep the scores level.

Haughton had his first attempt moments later with a free kick from 30 yards which looked destined for the top corner, forcing a great stop out of Henry Gray.

Ethan Mitchell received the first yellow of the game as Blackwell took the resulting free kick which went narrowly wide of Ben Winterbottom’s post.

Despite all the one-way pressure, it was Braintree who opened the scoring on 35 minutes as Jermaine Francis crept in behind the Fylde defence and slotted past Ben Winterbottom to break the deadlock.

The visitors almost scored a second moments later as an audacious strike cannoned off the crossbar.

But Fylde went into the half time interval with plenty of work to do as they trailed by a goal to nil.

But things got worse for Longwell and Neal’s side as Braintree made it two on the hour mark with a back-post finish from a set-piece.

Not long after returning from injury, Jon Ustabasi saw red for Fylde after a late challenge on James Vennings.

Emeka Obi hit the bar in the final stages as Fylde looked for a consolation but it ended in a 2-0 defeat at Mill Farm.

AFC Fylde: Winterbottom, Bardell, Whelan (C), Davis, Evans (Hugill 61′), Mitchell (Obi 83′), Riley, Jolley (Boatswain 45′), Haughton, Roberts (Ustabasi 61′), Massey (Adom 70′)

Subs not used: Clark, Long