AFC Fylde and Jim Bentley finally have a match to look forward to against York City

The Coasters haven’t played since the victory at AFC Telford United on January 9, having seen matches with Guiseley, Chester and Gateshead all postponed in the past nine days.

Those games were due to have seen Fylde boss Jim Bentley back in the stand after undergoing heart surgery at the beginning of December.

In his absence, Bentley’s assistant Chadwick has been overseeing team affairs, though he has remained in constant contact with Bentley during his recuperation.

The matchday presence of the former Morecambe manager did raise the question as to what would be the extent of his involvement.

Speaking before the Gateshead postponement, Chadwick told The Gazette: “He’s been in and around it the last few days and he was due to be in the stand on Tuesday (at Chester).

“He’s the manager but I think it will be similar to how it’s been while he’s been off.

“We’re talking about someone who managed in the Football League for so long and he’s just desperate to get back to the club.

“He wants to crack on and we all want to do as best we can by winning football matches.

“His presence from the stand will be felt but I don’t think he’s in any position to be getting excited just yet!

“We have to manage that process. We’ve worked together over recent months but I’ve been the one taking team talks and giving instructions on the sidelines.

“We’d been able to talk team selection and our approach to the games while he was off and that won’t change.

“We will probably be able to have better communication by doing it in person before the game and at half-time.”

National League clubs are presently voting as to how they believe the 2020/21 season should be resolved.

Though Fylde haven’t officially announced which way they would vote, the club has been vocal in its desire to play on.

Fylde are hopeful of finally returning to action tomorrow with a trip to York City, another club which has intimated it wishes to continue the season.

Training is continuing to take place as normal, though, with the schedule taking Fylde’s lack of football this year into account.

Chadwick said: “That’s something we have thought about – making sure we’ve pushed them enough but not too hard because they have been four or five weeks without a game

“That’s been part of the consideration but we should be going into our next game with pretty much everyone fully fit and ready to go. One or two have missed bits but in the main everyone’s fine.”