Adam Murray: AFC Fylde must attack final two games

Second-placed Fylde's destiny is still in their own hands, though only victory in both games will ensure they finish above title rivals King's Lynn Town.

Any slip-up by the Coasters in Ashton-under-Lyne in tonight's game in hand would give the initiative back to the Norfolk side (who lead by a point and have the better goal difference) going into the final round of fixtures on Saturday, when it's King's Lynn's turn to face Curzon and Fylde visit relegation-battlers Bradford Park Avenue.

But however high the stakes, Murray insists Fylde can't afford a safety-first approach. The head coach said: “The message to the players is to attack, simple as that. We're at our best when we attack, so we go into these last two games trying to score as many goals as we can and to play on the front foot.

“We've got a really good title rival going well (six straight wins since losing 1-0 to Fylde), so we just need to do our job, be professional and keep our standards as high as we can. I never want this club to go into a safe mode or a passive mode. When we score goals, we want more goals.”

Tonight's opponents certainly can't be under-estimated. Curzon may sit in 10th spot but victory over Fylde would lift them into the play-off zone. They are unbeaten in 10 games and could finish as high as fourth.

Fylde have got back on track with successive wins, most recently a 5-1 victory over Leamington in Saturday's final home game.

Luke Conlan scored after 50 seconds and Murray added: “We'd spoken all week about getting a quick start and putting them on the back foot. They are in a battle and fighting for their lives, and we wanted to put the stress on as quickly as we could.

“It was a really good goal to start the game but then I felt we took our foot off the gas a little and I'm not sure why. We controlled the game without really doing anything but then we had a really good chat at half-time. We scored some great goals second half and again controlled it.

“It's tough for the players because at this stage there's pressure to get results, but for this team the results come when we perform. So we have to keep the focus on performance because I'm 100 per cent sure that if we perform results follow.

“My message at the end was never to sit in that comfort zone. It doesn't matter who we are playing and whether it's 4 or 5-0, we have to want more. It's about keeping standards high and keeping on pushing. If we do that, we'll be fine.”

Fylde's other four goals on Saturday came from the league's top scorer (24) Nick Haughton, who stayed on throughout as Murray resisted any urge to give striker Siya Ligendza minutes after injury.

He explained: “We decided not to risk Siya and give him a couple more days' training, so we have him for whatever is coming in the future.

“We dropped Nick back into a deep midfield role for the last five minutes to protect him a little bit.”