Chris Beech hails AFC Fylde's 'excellent' win at York City

Goals from Joe Westley, Ash Hunter and Jon Ustabasi handed the Coasters a vital three points at the LNER Community Stadium as Adam Hinshelwood’s wait for a first City win goes on.

Centre-back Will Smith did provide some brief respite for the Minstermen after tucking away Finlay Barnes’ cross to level the scores, but that proved to be just a mere consolation on an evening that saw the hosts slip to a precarious 22nd position.

It is a different picture for Fylde, whose victory moved them up to 15th - four points clear of the drop zone.

And Beech was pleased to see his side continue their upward trajectory against York.

“It was excellent,” he enthused to the Fylde media team.

“We backed up scoring four great goals on Saturday at Mill Farm with another three really good goals at York’s ground.

“The way the lads played with their discipline off the ball is something I’ve tried to teach them since I took over, and it was a great example of staying in shape and playing under pressure.

“The possession, yes they had it, but where it was, it was very comfortable for us. I was very pleased with how we counter-attacked and scored great goals.”

Having been pegged back for the second game running, the Fylde boss praised his side’s commitment and composure to pull clear after the break.

“It’s something that grows with confidence and belief, for us to gain a victory backing up Saturday’s performance,” Beech admitted.

“This pitch here is beautiful, very firm, and I knew it would suit our faster players.

“It’s great to see Joe Westley scoring an unbelievable number nine goal - one contact, excellent.

“Ash has looked sharp lately in training, he does that every day in training and he came on and did it when it mattered, a great goal.

“The last one, that’s just a resolute defensive mechanism and a counter-attack through speed. Jon’s probably the fastest player outside the Championship.”

Will Smith scored York's only goal of the evening, one Beech was disappointed to concede. (Image: Tom Poole)

Whilst impressed by his side’s frequency of shots on George Sykes-Kenworthy’s goal, Beech was disappointed with the one that his side gave away.

He continued: “We had 18 shots away at York which is really good, it was a lot more than they had. 

“Their goal is a little bit disappointing as we have been excellent at defending corners this season. I was shouting twice that we were stood too far over, and they just took advantage.

“The lad that’s been brought back into their team, he flicks a goal in, but he shouldn’t be able to do that from that angle.

“We’ll look at that and how to try and nudge on to be better for next week, but I’m really pleased with everybody.”