AFC Fylde boss takes another step into the unknown with Solihull Moors trip

Having spent the last eight years managing in League Two, Bentley is still getting to know the National League.

“I’ve not seen them in the past, I’ve heard of them and looked over a few bits of them,” the AFC Fylde boss said.

“They’ve done well last season, they’re doing okay this season.

“It’s a tough place to go, so I believe. I’ve not been there in the past, we’ll see what happens.

“We’re going to have to be good defensively. We’re going to have to stand up and be counted.

“We’re going to have to win our individual battles and be strong as a defensive unit.

“Going the other way we need to implement our strengths on their weaknesses and try and create chances and score goals.

“It’s a game we’re looking forward to. We want to keep our run going but we know it’ll be a difficult game for us away from home, a team in form.”

Bentley had an opportunity to look over some more of his squad during the week, with the Coasters coming up against Burnley in a Lancashire Senior Cup quarter-final.

It gave him an opportunity to assess his players in a way that he can’t in training through the week.

Bentley said: “It’s a great opportunity to have a look over the squad, it’s different seeing them in training and seeing how they go about things day to day.

“Ultimately you’ve got to see them on a pitch in 11 v 11 situations.

“There were good things there, there were indifferent things there.

“For me, it was the ideal situation to assess what we’ve got in the squad and what we feel we need moving forward.

“It’s different if you come at the start of the season, you’ve got time to build the squad, you see them from day one.

“You get the fitness work into them, then you start working on your units and your team, you’re working on your pre-season games and you can build up an understanding of what you’ve got available.

“As it is, you come in halfway through or whatever it is.

“The team had done well, they’d won back to back.

“Certainly with the Tuesday game (Maidenhead United), with me coming in on the Monday afternoon, it was a case of same again.

“The team’s been doing okay and they’re in a decent place. We’ve got to identify quickly what we’ve got, what we need, what’s going well and what’s not going so well.”