With their intricate football and rapid style of attacking, AFC Fylde have established themselves as one of the National League's most feared sides and are led by a manager, Dave Challinor, who epitomises their immense ambition. After a great end to last season propelled them into the playoffs, they ultimately fell at the first hurdle of the new promotion system but have picked themselves up well to sustain another promotion challenge.
They possess perhaps the most valuable asset in the division with Danny Rowe, who is irreplaceable in the team and has been subject of bids from teams higher in the footballing pyramid, yet such is Fylde's determination to reach their goal of being an EFL outfit come 2022, that they knew they could not afford to lose their talisman. Not only is he clinical in the box, but he's capable of scoring sublimely from distance and this potent combination has led to twelve goals so far, topped by only two other players. However, to focus simply on Rowe, would discredit the role that several other integral players play because they're far from a one-man team. There's talent all over the pitch; Francis-Angol and Byrne are all well-regarded defenders while Philliskirk and Bond anchor the midfield. Then, you have Gime Toure who has complimented Danny Rowe well - he adds another dimension in attack for the Coasters. The undoing of them last season was their away form, which everybody could see was a weakness when we beat them in March. This campaign, though, they've rectified that and are one of just two teams to have not tasted defeat on the road yet while also only conceding twice on their travels. If anything, their home form is now quite unpredictable as they've seemingly stopped being free-scoring at Mill Farm, where they've lost twice, admittedly to good sides in Orient and Salford. If the Daggers get caught up in the above level of thinking then we will lose quite easily today, especially if we start on the back foot. The fearlessness with which we began our last home game left Harrogate significantly rattled and that was the catalyst for a fantastic display at Victoria Road. We ignored the fact that Harrogate were third and instead imposed our own style of football on them, which was so rapid that they ultimately succumbed to it. Infact, there have been a number of promising things to arise in the last few weeks. From the moment we had the fans' forum a few weeks ago, the new American investors have seemed to instil new belief into the side. Some good signings have followed, notably Balanta, which have given us both an extra spark in attack and an extra level of solidity at the back. This has yielded reward with the two good results against Harrogate and then Dover Athletic. In those games, we scored twice and we'd only done that once prior to then throughout the whole season, so we're making gradual improvements. However, such is the congestion towards the bottom of the league that one bad result can throw things into disarray again, and this happened in our last game which we lost at Sutton United. Though there is no disgrace in losing to a team like Sutton who are always in and around the playoffs, we weren't great in that game and it's hard to not feel that our good period prior to then has been tarnished somewhat. So we're in a position where we face a real test of character, and the games don't get any easier. The last time we won two in a row, it was proceeded by a run of five straight defeats and so we're trying to prevent similar fate from ensuing. It seems like we have a lot of time left in the season but the reality is that we're in November and have played a lot of games. With every defeat and every missed opportunity, we're only leaving ourselves more to do after January which is when the stress will really develop. Havant & Waterlooville are steadily improving, Braintree have a new manager and have rapidly developed, Maidstone are getting better by the week and Dover, too, have a new manager who will improve his side's fortunes. All of those teams have picked up form and many have made managerial changes. Therefore, we need to be better than all of those to rescue our season and given that they're all getting better, it will be a hard task for Peter Taylor and his troops. Six points from a possible nine, though, is impressive and should that trend continue we'll end with 69 points come May; suffice to say, relegation won't be an issue. For now, though, we need to start picking up points, particularly in our home games. Fylde are a good side but they won't be coming here expecting an easy game. There's no room for respect in football, so we need to put Fylde under pressure from the off. Most importantly, we need to focus on our strengths, and other issues like containing Danny Rowe will take care of themselves. It's been a long two weeks and it's good to have football back. It would be even better to have that winning feeling back, because we haven't experienced it nearly as many times as we should've. Up the Dags
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January 2024
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