Congleton Town 1 AFC Fylde 1: Last-gasp Coasters force FA Cup replay

With the Coasters trailing to Daniel Needham’s second-half strike, Haughton curled home an inch-perfect free-kick in the dying embers of the match,

Fylde’s interim manager Andy Taylor made two changes to the side that drew with Spennymoor Town in midweek, Danny Whitehead and Jordan Cranston coming in to replace Will Hatfield and Connor Barrett.

They made a bright start to proceedings as Pierce Bird found Siya Ligendza, whose pull back to Haughton saw him fire well over from the edge of the area.

Congleton weren’t afraid to take the game to Fylde, Arron Johns using his pace to stride past Bird and find Lewis Short around 25 yards from goal, though he struck wide of the post.

An end-to-end opening 15 minutes also saw Haughton brought down just outside the penalty area before his resulting free-kick was tipped away by home keeper David Parton.

Shakeel Jones-Griffiths was next to try his luck for the hosts, shooting inches wide of Chris Neal’s goal after a bouncing ball had sat up nicely.

As the game quietened down a little, Bird was allowed time to float a defence-splitting ball towards Danny Philliskirk but a superb last-ditch challenge eventually cut out the danger.

Fylde did have the ball in the net on the stroke of half-time, only for the assistant referee to flag for offside when Alex Whitmore converted after Haughton had struck the post from 12 yards.

The second half began with Ligendza having a half-chance but his flicked effort was claimed by Parton.

Congleton had a chance of their own when Tom Walker gave away possession cheaply on the edge of the area, allowing Needham a shot from distance which went over Neal’s bar.

The home team almost found an opener when Jordi Nsaka skipped past Kyle Morrison before attempting a cross into the area, only for Whitmore to mop up for the Coasters.

Haughton again tested Parton in the Congleton goal before the hosts went down the other end of the pitch and took the lead on 75 minutes.

A long ball into the area wasn’t dealt with by the Coasters and Needham was there to loop an effort over Neal and into the net.

Congleton almost doubled their lead when Needham was left one-on-one with Neal, who spread himself and denied the midfielder with an outstretched leg.

There was still time for some late drama when, after Haughton was brought down on the edge of the home area, he stepped up and struck the ball past Parton and into the far corner, setting up a replay at Mill Farm on Tuesday evening (7.45pm).

Congleton Town: Parton, Williams, Nsaka, Jones-Griffiths, Read, Chadwick, Johns (Sankey 89), Hartshorn, Pope, Short (Beaumont 82), Needham. Subs not used: Faulkner, Griffiths, Clarke, Hampton, Hall.

AFC Fylde: Neal, Morrison, Whitmore, Bird, Cranston (Conlan 24, Barrett 73), Walker, Philliskirk, Weston, Whitehead, Haughton, Ligendza (Rowley 58). Subs not used: Obi, Davis, Patten, Hatfield.