AFC Fylde manager wants to make the most of home advantage

The Coasters go into the game, having lost 1-0 at Brackley Town last time out thanks to a wonder strike from Shepherd Murombedzi.

That opened up a 10-point gap between fourth-placed Fylde and top two Gateshead and Brackley.

Bentley’s players face home games over the coming week against second-bottom Telford, who lost 3-1 at York City in midweek, and Darlington next Tuesday.

The manager said: “It’s been a good week’s training. It’s been positive, it’s been vibrant and everyone’s looking forward to getting back home after two long away trips.

“It was a tight game at Brackley and, at the time, I felt we didn’t deserve to lose – and having looked back at it, I still don’t think we deserved to lose.

“It’s a wonder goal that’s settled the game but you can’t feel sorry for yourself: we’ve got two home games coming up – and four of the next five are at home, so there’s a lot of football to be played in a big two weeks of the season.

“It’s a tough league and that result gives us a bit more work to do but we’re capable of doing it, certainly.

“We need to hope a couple of results go for us but we have to remain positive and find a way of getting as close as we can to the top.

“If we can’t get to the top, we have to embrace the play-offs, but we’ll keep going and hopefully stay injury-free.”

Fylde welcome a Telford team sitting second-bottom of National League North and are looking to do the double over them after victory in November’s original meeting.

The Coasters’ camp certainly won’t go into the game unprepared, having watched tomorrow’s opposition a number of times.

Bentley explained: “We’ve watched them three or four times over the last couple of weeks.

“We’ve been to watch them against Southport, Nick (Chadwick, assistant manager) watched them against York, and while they’ve had some good results recently, they’ve lost their last couple.

“They’ve got some good players, they’re fighting for their lives and a new manager (Paul Carden) has gone in and is looking for a response.”

Bentley is also hopeful of an answer to the club’s long-running striker search.

The Coasters’ boss has been trying to reinforce his forward line and that patience may finally be about to pay off.

He said: “We’re close on one at the minute.

“I’ve been quite frustrated and we’ve been tracking quite a few but the one we’re hoping to get has been one on the road for quite a while, going back to last summer.

“It’s come up now that, potentially, we can bring him in so we’ll see what happens.”

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