AFC Fylde head into the FA Cup this weekend after returning to winning ways last time out.

Craig Mahon is pleased at how quickly his AFC Fylde players have put theory into practice as they take a break from National League matters this weekend.

The Coasters welcome Atherton Collieries to Mill Farm in the final qualifying round of this season’s FA Cup.

They do so after returning to winning ways with last weekend’s 2-0 win over Scunthorpe United: a first victory in three after defeats to Carlisle United and Southend United.

A second win of the season at Mill Farm, it came after Mahon and his staff decided on a few tweaks to their game plan.

The head coach said: “We sat down as a group, myself and the staff, and we went through a few things that we thought we needed to change.

“We never want to come away from our principles, the way we play and how we do things, but we thought we needed to adapt, we needed to be better in certain things.

“We had to give the lads ideas on how to do things differently; the patterns, how we play

“They really worked hard at working on these new patterns and new ways of playing.

“All the credit goes to them in that dressing room because they’re the ones who put it into fruition.”

Last Saturday’s win was also a second clean sheet in four - and third this season - for Coasters keeper Zac Jones.

“Zac has been outstanding this year,” Mahon added.

“Probably, some of the games, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

“He’s probably the best keeper in the league with his feet and he’s just getting better and better with his hands.

“Sometimes you can look at results and goals against us, but when you see what he does for this team - his confidence coming for balls - he’s fantastic.”