AFC Fylde so lucky to still be in FA Trophy admits Dave Challinor

READ MORE: AFC Fylde's third-round draw in FA TrophyThe Coasters laboured into the third round of the competition with a 1-0 victory thanks to Nick Haughton’s first goal for the club.

In the next round Fylde will visit Ramsbottom United or Weymouth, who replay on the south coast tonight after Saturday’s 2-2 draw in Greater Manchester, but Challinor admits his side were fortunate to make it through.

The Coasters boss said: “I’m not happy by a long stretch but I’m not going to take anything away from Biggleswade.

“This was about them coming here and doing themselves proud, doing their manager, their supporters and the club proud.

“They did that and we were lucky to win the game, very, very lucky.

“Again, without taking anything away from them, it was as much to do with us as them, and that’s why I was disappointed.

“I wouldn’t expect anything different from them. As the underdog it’s about staying in the game.

“You’re hoping for an upset when you go to a place to play a higher division team.

“To do that, you have to be on top of your game and the other team have to have an off-day.

“That was certainly the case and that’s why we were lucky to win the game.

“I can take that technically we might not be great sometimes, but you’ve got to do the basics well and we didn’t.

“You’ve got to compete and everything we spoke about before the game in terms of how we wanted to start wasn’t carried out.

“I’ve asked the question why because we spoke about getting the ball forward, getting the ball into Rowey (Danny Rowe), Nick (Haughton) and Arthur (Gnahoua), but too many of them looked like they didn’t want to be out there.

“Too many looked petrified in possession of the ball, made poor decisions and made it difficult for themselves.

“When we spoke about it at half-time, I said this could be the last game they play for us. This could be the last game of their career.

“I wanted to see a performance that showed that but I didn’t see an improvement.

“I’m really frustrated because I don’t want to have a pop at them, I know we’re miles better than that but we haven’t provedit.”

Fylde’s next Trophy tie is set for February 2, when the winners will be guaranteed £8,000 for reaching the quarter-finals.

The Coasters return to National League action on Saturday with a crunch home clash with Wrexham.