“We’re going to make sure we come back on Saturday with another win”: AFC Fylde look to bounce back after losing top-two clash

The Coasters were beaten 2-1 at South Shields, who leapfrogged Mahon’s players into top spot.

Goals from Paul Blackett and Sean McGurk saw off Fylde, who managed a late consolation through Danny Ormerod as their six-match winning run came to an end.

Defeat left them two points behind South Shields with 12 games to go, the first of which is Saturday’s trip to Leamington.

“It was a great game of football,” Mahon told Fylde’s media team after Tuesday’s game.

“I spoke with their manager (Ian Watson) after the game and we said that’s two of the top teams going head to head.

“Unfortunately we’ve fallen short a little bit but I couldn’t be prouder of the boys.

“We’ve still got 12 games to go. I asked them in there, ‘if we won tonight, would we have won it (the title)?’ so nothing changes.

“We move on to the next match and then we’ve just got to make sure we prepare properly and do the right things.

“It was a really good game of football, there’s not much I can criticise or go into too much detail (about).

“Both teams went for it, South Shields came out on top: nothing changes for us, 12 cup finals to go.

“The last time we lost, we went on a six-game unbeaten run. This loss is going to make us hungry: hungry to do something different the next game.

“We’re going to make sure we come back on Saturday with another win.”