AFC Fylde boss pinpoints areas for improvement going into Bank Holiday double-header

The Coasters went down 2-0 against National League North new boys Scarborough Athletic at Mill Farm last weekend.

It left Fylde with a pair of wins and defeats from their first four matches, seeing them 11th in the early league table as one of half-a-dozen teams on six points.

Speaking after last weekend’s loss, the manager said: “We weren’t at it from the start and, at any level of football, if you aren’t at it and don’t do the basics…

“We didn’t win first contacts, a lot of ball errors, a lot of the controllables we didn’t control and too many set-plays given away, so we didn’t get any territory.

“Going into the last line, they were dominating everything and we couldn’t quite get hold of the ball.

“They are a good counter-attacking team at this level and, sometimes, you have to take your hat off to that.

“If you turn over that much in the mid-third or you don’t hold it when you go longer into the last line, then teams can hurt you.

“Scarborough wasn’t different to what we’ve faced before at this level.

“We’re disappointed as a group because we haven’t perhaps continued the form of last season and the consistency.

“We’ve won 50 per cent of games so far and, if we continue that and win 23, we’ll be a play-off team – but we don’t want to be a play-off team, we want to be better than that.

“We all know we haven’t recruited where we want to recruit at the end of the pitch.

“We missed out on a few. We need to correct that and correct it quickly.

“We’re playing with a left-footed right wing-back because Curtis Weston can only play a maximum half an hour but he got through 45 minutes.

“He came on a bit earlier than I wanted but he brings leadership.

“The second goal was disappointing in terms of bad luck. We’ve gone to clear it and it’s ended up back at the centre-forward’s feet but that can happen .

“We have to take some positives. We didn’t give up and we made their keeper work, though obviously from distance as we lacked that figurehead in the 18-yard box.

“Their goalie did quite well but we take our medicine and move on.

“You always have the next game to put it right, that’s football. We put it right at Farsley but we’ve taken a step back today.

“There’s no doubt in my mind this group will fight back. We’ll do it right in training from Monday and that’s where you need to be consistent.”

The Bank Holiday weekend means Fylde have two matches in 48 hours as they look to put the Scarborough disappointment behind them.

They travel to Chester on Saturday before welcoming Southport to Mill Farm on Monday (both 3pm).

After drawing at Alfreton Town and beating Brackley Town in their first two matches, Chester have lost consecutive games to Hereford and Peterborough Sports.

Southport have had alternate wins and defeats so far, seeing off Boston United and Darlington but losing to Peterborough Sports and Alfreton Town.