Boss spells out his demands of AFC Fylde's players

Teenagers and trialists may have made up the numbers in Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by Carlisle United, who were an EFL club until May, but the boss wasn’t over-impressed by what he saw.

However, Mahon was delighted with the response at Bamber Bridge on Tuesday as Fylde ran out 7-1 winners.

Two Charlie Jolley goals put the Coasters 2-1 up at half-time, Simon Grand having equalised for the Northern Premier League side.

It took a fine save by Fylde’s trialist keeper to maintain their lead until the break, after which the Coasters ran riot – starting when new signing Max Taylor netted a free-kick from inside his own half.

Goals by Lincoln McFayden, two trialists and Danny Ormerod completed the rout.

Mahon told the club’s media team: “The lads did exactly what we asked and Bamber Bridge looked really good first half.

“Second half I felt we stepped up the quality and tempo, and the subs were outstanding.”

It was a different story on Saturday, when Luke Armstrong and Regan Linney scored Carlisle’s first-half goals and a frustrated Mahon said: “I thought we could have done a lot of things better.

“We were a bit slow and didn’t get tight enough to them. I’ve watched us train for three weeks and felt this didn’t represent us.

“Two games this week might have caught up with them but there’s a standard I expect.”

Mahon has been boosted by the signing of Taylor and would love more of similar pedigree, adding: “We all know we’re trying to add to the squad and we need to bring more quality and experience in.

“We are asking 17 and 18-year-olds to be doing things beyond their years and we need lads in who understand the situation. Whoever we are playing against, we want to hit the same standards.

“Max adds a lot of height and physicality to the backline and we think he’ll be a great addition.

“He’s been playing in League Two, which speaks volumes about his quality.

“He’s keen to get a promotion on his CV and he’s exactly the type of signing we are looking to add.”