AFC Fylde boss looks forward to York City challenge

A week on from their FA Trophy exit at Aveley, the Coasters are looking for a third straight league win after seeing off Rochdale and Hartlepool United.

Those wins have lifted Beech’s players into 22nd place, two points from safety and only five behind today’s hosts.

York, for their part, sit in 18th position after 13 days off, having drawn five of their last six league matches during a run of one defeat in 10.

One of their three victories in that time was November’s 2-0 win at Mill Farm.

Despite Fylde’s position in the bottom four, that defeat proved a rare misstep on home soil after Beech took over first-team matters in October.

The Coasters’ head coach told The Gazette: “It will be a tough game because they don’t lose many games and they got the better of us in terms of the result.

“I’ve had seven home league games in charge and the only one we’ve lost at home was to York.

“It’s important we understand why they got the better of us; we did perform well but didn’t test their keeper.

“We need to make sure we can grow that point we have at the start of the game and turn it into three.

“We do that by understanding the strategy and then trusting the players to implement that.

“If we do that, then we have a chance against a good York team which is well coached and invested in – but it’s an exciting challenge.”