Jim Bentley makes sense of "crazy season" for AFC Fylde

The Coasters manager is recuperating at home after successful heart bypass surgery at the start of the month, though he is now back in daily contact with the club and speaks frequently with his deputy Nick Chadwick.

When Bentley spoke to The Gazette last week, his first interview since the operation, Fylde had won just one of their last five in the league and had exited the FA Trophy at Boston United.

A combination of injuries and fired-up opponents hadn’t made life any easier for Fylde, especially after a fine start to the campaign – they won five of their first six and drew the other – had established the Coasters as the team to beat at this level.

Bentley said: “We are a full-time club – a decent, well-run club – trying to impose ourselves in what is largely a part-time league. The other clubs all want to prove a point when they play us but we knew that before the season started.

“Against some clubs, you could see the coverage they were giving us before the game and they definitely raised their performance a couple of per cent.

“But that’s part and parcel, and that’s not to say we shouldn’t have more points than we have.

“The Leamington and Bradford (Park Avenue) games should have been won before their last-minute goals (both fixtures ended all square after stoppage-time equalisers).”

But Bentley added that all the disruption and uncertainty surrounding coronavirus is making the season all the more difficult

“But it is a crazy season with Covid,” he added. “You can build up a head of steam but then be forced into a break that kills your momentum.

“Injuries are an issue at all levels when you are cramming in games after five or six months without playing.

“You are getting fitness through games and it’s a case of recover-play-recover. That makes it a more level playing field.”

But Bentley is always one to strike an optimistic note and had a positive message for this festive period.

“Hopefully the season will settle down. We’d like to be at the top of the pile but we’re in a healthy position.

“We have more big games coming up but we are certainly in the mix and have plenty to be positive about.”

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