AFC Wimbledon vs AFC Fylde
27th September 2039
Defenders Sean Jordan and Neil Hakeem were missing through injury so Dale Alexander started at left back and John Tomaszko partnered Anthony Barrett. Sam Pride got his second start of the season in midfield next to Jonathan Currie. Jay Preece fired Fylde into an early lead after 3 minutes when his free-kick from 25 yards flew over the wall and through the keepers arms to make it 1-0! Sam Pride had a couple of long range shots throughout the first half which were saved by the keeper. Just before half-time Wimbledon had a chance to level and Barlow played it back to Uwakwe on the edge of the box and his first time shot went in off the underside of the bar, 1-1 going into the break. It was a heart in mouth moment for Fylde on 53 minutes when Darren Turner almost gave Wimbledon the lead when he headed just wide from the corner. A double chnage with just under 20 minutes to go saw Bytheway and Smyth come on for Hill and Greene. Fylde could not find the winning goal as Wimbledon put everyone behind the ball in the remaining 15 minutes. It's a tough one to take for Fylde who were in need of a win to move up the table.
PLAYER RATINGS
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AFC Fylde vs Notts County
1st October 2039
The good news of the week was the call-up to Northern Ireland for Tommy Smyth to be part of the squad for the European Championship Qualifiers against Sweden and Andorra on the 8th and 11th October and the September Young Player of the Month award for Ollie Bellairs. Fylde had Hakeem and Jordan back in the team as well as Francid Johnson in midfield next to Currie. Former Fylde midfielder Patrick Uttridge started for Notts County. Breacker refused to play it out from the back and went long finding Thomas who played a one-two with Bellairs and then smashed it past Brass hard and low to make it 1-0 on 2 minutes! Currie played it out wide to Preece who crossed at pace for Thomas who met it with a glancing header and it went just over the bar. Greene passed it to Johnson, he played it to Hill in space and he ran towards goal getting into the area unopposed and placed it into the bottom left corner to make it 2-0 on 20 minutes! Fylde look up for this today! Fylde's passing was beautiful to watch and Johnson found space he passed to Thomas who gave it nicely to Hill. Hill came forward again and picked out the top right corner with a beautiful finish, 3-0! David Hill with a delicate finish! The 18 year old making everyone take note! Jonathan Currie picked up a booking just after the restart and with just over 30 minutes to go was replaced by Tommy Smyth. Minutes later Rhodes had a free-kick on the edge of the box and rifled it in on a tight angle clawing one back for Notts County. Notts County were trying to get the second and Fylde looked nervous. The experienced Vince Bytheway came on for David Hill for the last ten minutes. Two minutes to go and Harrop played the ball down the right for Fleming who struck from the wing to find the bottom corner, what a goal! Notts County make it 3-2 and Fylde are on the ropes. The game went into stoppage time and John Tomaszko gave away a cheap free-kick, it was played to the edge of the box but Tomaszko redeemed himself cutting it out and running at the last defender, he had Thomas wanting it but he went left to Johnson, the wrong option. He got to the byline and crossed for Thomas but it was cleared behind for a corner. Notts County got the ball back and got it around the Fylde area, Uttridge tried a shot from range but he skied it and that surely must be it at Mill Farm. The referee blew his whistle and Fylde could finally breathe.
EH: The first half was fantastic and we gave the supporters some reall enjoyable moments. Hill played with an air of confidence today and looked very assured. In the second half we almost blew it but he held it together at the back and the whole team worked for each other to ensure we didn't throw away the three points.
PLAYER RATINGS
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AFC Fylde vs Coventry City
EFL Trophy Group Stage
4th October 2039
The second match of the group stage for Fylde and a win would almost likely see them through to the knockout stages. Henderson made changes, Aiden Butts started in goal, Justin Brooks came in at Right Back, Milby and Pride in the midfield and Hodge playing ahead of them. Chris Moffatt started on the left wing. Warren Hodge gor the fans on their feet and played a great ball through for Grant Thomas but his shot was pushed away. Tom Smith was given too much space in the middle and was allowed to move forward to find the top right corner beating an outstretched Butts to give Coventry the lead on the verge of half-time. Marsden was set free on 47 minutes and Barrett fought hard to get back and to hold him up inside the area, he caught his leg which he held his arms up for and the referee had no choice but to give the penalty ro Coventry. Leak-Barnes stepped up against Butts and slotted to his left to double their lead. With 30 minutes to go, Fylde brought on Smyth for Moffatt with Hodge moving to the left wing and David Hill went off for Vince Bytheway. Fylde struggled to get the ball forward to Thomas and struggled to put passing sequences together. Bytheway came deep to get the ball on the right and played a direct ball towards Thomas but he couldn't get there, Hodge came out of nowhere from the left at pace and got on the end of it when everyone had given up and drilled it past the keeper to score his first senior goal for Fylde! What a finish and he's off the mark for the club he loves! Milby won the ball back in the 92nd minute and went long for Thomas who tried to fight off Brown but he lost out inside the area. Fylde tried towards the end but on 94 minutes Muirhead cut the ball back to Williams and he curled it into the back of the net to make it 3-1 and end the game.
PLAYER RATINGS
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AFC Fylde vs Wrexham
8th October 2039
Currie, Alexander, Yap-Sam and Smyth were away on International duty and the only notable changes were Milby and Johnson in midfield and Stuart Greene behind Thomas. Wrexham came flying out of the blocks but Fylde done well to absorb the early pressure, nine minutes in and Preece played the free-kick into the box which Hill headed accross goal to where Bellairs was in space but he headed into the keepers arms when he had time to take it down and hit it. Milby brought it forward on 17 minutes but lost out and Wrexham cleared, Jordan hoofed it forward and Bellairs showed great skill to wrap his foot around it in the box and hook it across to Hill to smash home his 4th of the season! Fylde looked more relaxed on the ball and Johnson played it to Hill who cut in from the right side, Skiverton couldn't keep up with him and he unleashed a left footed strike towards the top corner which the keeper stopped at the last second. Eagers took control of the ball for Wrexham and passed forward to Skiverton who lost out to Barrett, the ball still made it's way into the area and Eagers deft touch to Groves saw him slot past the emerging Breacker to equalise just before half-time. Hill cut inside again from the right, this time finding Greene but his shot lacked the power to test the keeper. Stewart Milby got into a tussle with Kershaw who pushed Milby to the ground on 55 minutes, the referee went straight over and showed Kershaw his second yellow card, he was off! Five minutes later, Hakeem took the long throw into the box, Bellairs went up with the keeper but led with his arm, the referee gave Bellairs his second yellow for handball and reduced Fylde to ten men! There was pandemonium that followed with both teams getting in each other's faces and the referee took the players off the field for a minute to cool off. Warren Hodge was told to get ready as he came on for Greene and moved out to the left. Fylde were caught out a few minutes later down the left when Preece allowed Adams to go past him and slot to make it 2-1. It was game, set and match on 75 minutes when Adams played the ball into the box, Breacker fumbled it and Skiverton turned it in to make it 3-1. Fylde fall to their 6th defeat of the season, a poor showing and no determination from The Coasters today.
EH: I think we threw the game away and he can only hold ourselves accountable. Did Wrexham get the better of us in the second half? Most certainly and we didn't have an answer for when it went to 1-1. The brawl changed the game and Wrexham took advantage of us psychologically at that point and went on to win the game.
PLAYER RATINGS
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LEAGUE TABLE
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No Punches Pulled With Danny Rowe
I'm going to start this article by saying, we are not getting promoted this season. Just forget about that right now. What I've seen is, there is no depth outside our best eleven and Euan Henderson cannot get a result when the chips are down. That last match against Wrexham proved everything and showed that we lack a winning mentality. Why was we so frightened to fight for the ball? The supporters have every right to be disappointed after that and what on earth was Ollie Bellairs doing jumping with his hand up in the air? Wrexham took control of the match at that point and we could not match their work rate or their intensity. Every time it came into our box we looked frightened of the ball. We can't play like that especially at Mill Farm! We were even winning 1-0! Warren Hodge came on after Bellairs was sent off, the kid is only 17 and we are playing an aggressive team. He was never going to be the player to make the difference. I agree with taking Greene going off due to playing poorly but he was probably our only player capable of scoring from nothing. We have players capable at this level to be winning matches like this but as a team we are lacking something. I'm hoping Craddock is fit for Ebbsfleet next week, we have missed him down the right but David Hill has done well in that position and should be used more. If things don't change soon, I will begin to question the manager because this team is underperforming. We've lost six out of fifteen already and are nowhere near where we need to be in the table. It has to change, it has to change fast.
