AFC Fylde boss wants a return to winning ways

The Coasters slipped down to ninth place in the National League in midweek after drawing 0-0 with FC Halifax Town, their fifth stalemate of the season.

That came just three days after Challinor’s men had come away from Barnet with a point after playing out a 1-1 draw.

Challinor believes his side’s performances in those two games warranted six points, but he was still happy to avoid defeat to maintain their unbeaten start to the season away from home.

He told The Gazette: “If you back-up your draws away from home by winning at home, then on paper they look like okay results. But how the games have gone, we should have had six points.

“I was pleased with our performances in both games and ultimately we’ve had glaring opportunities that we’ve not taken that should have won us the games.

“Joe (Cardle) has missed an open goal at Barnet which 99 times out of 100 he scores and then similarly, Ash (Hemmings) has in essence missed an open goal from four or five yards in the last minute which could have won us the game.

“I suppose there’s some disappointment with the way the draws have come about, but if we can win on Saturday it would be quite a productive week for us. You would take five points from the three games.

“In some ways, you’d essentially be happier with five points than six because it keeps us unbeaten away from home.

“I’d love to have had seven points, if I’m being honest, and we should have had the opportunity to do that. But we can’t now and we’ve got to move on quickly and take our frustrations out on Braintree.”

Fylde have lost just once this season – to big-spending Salford City – and have slipped off the pace at the top of the table in recent weeks after failing to convert their draws into three points.

Challinor’s men have drawn seven of their opening 13 games, but the Fylde boss knows what his side have to do to claim more victories.

“It’s down to us not taking our chances,” he said.

“I’d be concerned if we weren’t creating chances, but we are so that’s a positive. We’re just not sticking them away.

“The more you do that, the more pressure comes on you a little bit to make sure you win at home and back the away draws up.

“If draws come alongside wins and keep runs going, then they’re good. But if you draw every game in the league, you’ll get relegated. You can be undefeated and go down.

“So it’s one of them really, they’re not great and too many of them can cause a bit of an issue but at this stage of the season I’m delighted that we’ve only lost one game out of 10.

“We know that we need to try and convert some of those draws into wins but it’s not for the lack of trying. You only need to look at the opportunities we had late on against Halifax on Tuesday, we’re certainly getting ourselves in there.”