AFC Fylde boss calls for consistency
Kevin Phillips admits he’s weary of calling on his AFC Fylde team to “bounce back” as he challenged them to start putting together results.
Last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at fellow National League strugglers Braintree Town was particularly disappointing, coming a week after the hugely encouraging 3-0 home win over Gateshead.
It left the Coasters back in the drop zone ahead of this weekend’s home clash with bottom club Ebbsfleet United, who have won only one of their 18 league games.
The Fylde boss told the club’s media team: “I’m getting fed up of saying I want to bounce back and get a reaction.
“I gave them a challenge here because they hadn’t won back-to-back games since March, which is poor.
“It shows the inconsistency, not just this season but last, and we need to string results together to climb the league and build confidence.”
It all went wrong in Essex around the hour mark, when Fylde’s Tyler Roberts was shown a red card two minutes after Inih Effiong broke the deadlock.
Phillips added: “Of course it’s disappointing to lose, especially off the back of a top performance last weekend.
“We just didn’t keep the ball well enough or show enough composure and it has cost us. It looked a poor goal to concede.”
Not for the first time, the Coasters boss was left to rue a “sloppy” start to a second half.
“It’s been that way for a long time and it needs to be addressed because we know the home side will start quick,” he said.
“When we were down to 10 men we started to play and control the game.
“We were more positive, got into better positions and created opportunities.
“It’s really disappointing we showed more with 10 men than we did with 11.”
Phillips was also unhappy at the dismissal of Roberts, who was booked twice in the space of four minutes.
“I thought the first tackle from Tyler was good and his natural momentum followed through,” he said.
“He caught the player but you see that a million times in football and I thought the referee was poor.
“The second one probably warrants a yellow but the first one never is – and that phase of play led to the goal, so it’s really disappointing.”
After Ebbsfleet, the Coasters face a visit to Hartlepool United next Tuesday.
Fylde have also been drawn at home to National League North high-flyers Kidderminster Harriers in the third round of the FA Trophy on December 7.