Healthy squad a tonic for AFC Fylde's run-in

Dave Challinor says his full-strength AFC Fylde side couldn't be in a healthier position heading into their final 10 games of the season.
Dave Challinor    Picture: Steve McLellanDave Challinor    Picture: Steve McLellan
Dave Challinor Picture: Steve McLellan
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Dave Challinor says his full-strength AFC Fylde side couldn’t be in a healthier position heading into their final 10 games of the season.The Coasters, enjoying their first season at National League level, are currently five points adrift of the top seven.Aside from long-term absentee Josh Langley, Fylde have no injury concerns heading into this Saturday’s crucial home game against title challengers Aldershot Town.“We’re in a good place injury-wise,” Challinor told The Gazette.“There are no injuries apart from Josh Langley, who is gradually getting himself back.“Aside from him, there’s no injury problems or suspensions, so we go into the game at full strength.“It means some tough decisions for us in terms of having to leave players out.“But ultimately we’re in a really good place and we couldn’t have asked for a better situation around injuries.“It’s all really positive on that front. Hopefully that doesn’t change and we can have a strong finish to what has been a good season to date. If we can go and achieve something in the last 10 games that would be fantastic.”Fylde’s game at Torquay United fell foul of the weather last weekend, when only one fixture in the league survived.Challinor admits the weekend off was annoying as his side were looking to build on the momentum of their 3-1 win against Dover Athletic.He added: “It wasn’t a massive surprise the game was called off last week but it was a little bit frustrating at the same time.“It’s always hard when the work you’ve done during the week is not able to be rewarded.“We had worked hard and had put a plan in place in terms of how we were going to approach what would have been a bit of a different challenge. “We didn’t get try that out but we will revisit it when we can.“Obviously the bonus for us was the early postponement. We hadn’t travelled so we were able to refocus pretty quickly and look ahead to this weekend’s game.”Third-placed Aldershot are only five points behind leaders Macclesfield Town but Challinor is confident of picking up three priceless points.“It’s a game against a side up towards the top of the division but it doesn’t make a difference to us who we play,” he added.“Ultimately, we’ve got 10 games left and we think we’re going to have to win at least seven of them.“So the next one is this weekend and it’s important we try to win. We plan to make that happen.“They’re a good team that play in the right way, very similar to what we do in fact. We both employ similar systems and similar philosophies so it should be a good game.“We expect a really tough game so we’re going to have to work our socks off out of possession to put them under pressure.“But we think we can cause them a few problems and hopefully come out on the right side of the result.”

The Coasters’ away game at Torquay has been rearranged for Tuesday, April 10 (7.45pm).