AFC Fylde players earn interim manager's praise

A little more than 24 hours on from the departure of former boss Jim Bentley, Chadwick and Andy Taylor oversaw a 2-0 defeat of Bradford (Park Avenue) at Mill Farm.

Ben Tollitt and Nick Haughton were the Coasters’ goalscorers as they bounced back from their defeat against York City in midweek.

However, they also had to deal with the loss of recent arrival Mark Cullen as the former Blackpool man was stretchered off early on.

Victory kept the Coasters fourth in the National League North table with a free midweek ahead before travelling to third-placed Kidderminster Harriers on Saturday.

Speaking after the game, Chadwick told the club website: “Brilliant win, really delighted for the players.

“They have had some challenges to overcome this week, I think that’s obvious, and to run themselves into the ground - third game of the week, having gone through some upheaval and turmoil - they’ve lost what was their leader but they showed tremendous character and personality as a team to run for the badge, to run for the football club, to work hard and their attitude and application were great today.

“They have overcome another setback with Mark Cullen, our thoughts go to him.

“It looked a bad one for him so we had to overcome that as well: (there were) plenty of things thrown our way this week but delighted to come out with a 2-0 win.”

It had looked as if the two teams would be going into the break goalless before Fylde struck a crucial blow.

Nathan Shaw, who replaced the injured Cullen early on, was the creator with his cross headed home by Tollitt.

It wasn’t just the timing of the goal that cheered Chadwick but also the manner in which it was scored.

“We challenged the players to get more crosses in the box and more shots on goal,” he explained.

“We keep possession well at this football club, it’s the identity that we’ve got and it’s how we want to play the game.

“We also have to make sure we have a threat on the opposition goal and, possibly, we haven’t had that enough.”

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