AFC Fylde Head Coach Chris Beech was delighted after Nick Haughton’s hat-trick earned the Coasters an opening day victory over 10-man Solihull Moors at Mill Farm on Saturday.
Haughton’s treble saw Fylde come from behind in the sunshine to beat Andy Whing’s Moors 3-2 in the Vanarama National League, with the visitors having Joss Labadie sent off for two bookable offences.
Fylde’s number 10 scored two free-kicks either side of Owen Evans’ own goal and Jack Stevens’ strike before his stunning left-footed strike into the top right-corner after 83 minutes completed his hat-trick which proved to be the decisive moment in the contest.
Speaking to Coasters TV following full-time, Beech said: “I’m delighted with the three points, obviously you want to try and set off well and it was up to us to turn the point into three points. Solihull are a good team, we had to work very hard as they have a lovely process.
“Solihull had good passages of play and they scored a really good goal. We were frustrated and it was a hot today and the way Solihull play, we couldn’t be off the leash and jump press them, as how they are off the ball, so we came up with a different version of it in the second-half and it helped, then there’s more turnovers of the ball and we’re attacking with more intent.
“Nick’s last goal is good enough to win any game, it was deserved.
“I had to try and activate the way that we play, Nick works really hard, he scored 16 goals in 31 games for me last season and he’s started with three this season.
“I said to him when the lads gave him a clap and a well done in the dressing room that I want a proper hat-trick, a left foot, a right foot and a header, so we’ll see if he can do that!
“There’s not too much Solihull could have done with the 10-man factor so it was easier for me to make a stronger and a more positive decision with more numbers, and the lads had to go on and make a difference and they did, they supported what we were doing and took it up a level.
“There was a lot of change going on initially as Joe Riley was on the left and Dan Ormerod went up front, and then when we made more substitutions at 2-2, three came onto support Joe and then Corey Whelan gets a bang so he’s now playing number four and Luke Brennan is on the right wing.
“The players applied themselves to make sure that Solihull couldn’t counter and of course it’s a great winning goal and the free-kick is very intelligent for the second goal.”
Beech is excited to see his young team grow as the campaign progresses as they look to build on their winning start.
He added: “It’s exciting because we have a very young team, we’ve got 21 players signed now and a couple of lads on loan, Patrick came on and did great and won a few integral headers and important interceptions in and around the box before they could get a shot off.
“We also have Ben (Winterbottom) who only trained properly on Friday, so it wasn’t right he played, it was right Theo (Richardson) did as he did great against Barrow, but those are the decisions I’ll have to make.
“We’ve got 21 lads and four who are only 18, so we’re going to grow and grow with this. David (Haythornthwaite) is supportive of me to add one or two more attacking options as it will make us more physical to be able to make a difference in the National League as the challenges are so broad and we have to be right for all of the challenges we have.”
You can watch Chris’ post-match interview in full on our YouTube channel by CLICKING HERE
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