AFC Fylde Development Squad put the disappointment of last week’s cup exit behind them as they put in an impressive performance to win 13-3 against a depleted Workington side at Kellamergh Park. The side included Danny Lloyd, Dion Charles, Joe Booth and Luke Denson, all looking for match time, whilst there was a welcome return in a Coasters shirt for Tom Eckersley who started his first game for seven months following his serious injury.

The Coasters raced into a eight goal lead in the first half with Lloyd (3), Charles (2), Duffield (2) and Booth as the lads flew out of the traps to stun Workington.

The second half saw Workington come more in to the game as they threw caution to the wind and clearly went out with nothing to lose. The Coasters added further goals from Booth (2), Fleming (2) and Duffield whilst Workington grabbed three late goals to provide them with some cheer on what was otherwise a disappointing night for the Cumbrians.

Manager Andy Pilkington said, “I asked the lads for a response tonight and that’s exactly what I got. By our standards we haven’t been anywhere near where I expect us to be over the last couple of weeks and it’s cost us our place in the cup and two league points so I was pleased that we turned it around tonight. We had a very strong side out which obviously helped but I thought everyone was outstanding and we made good decisions, where ruthless in front of goal and dictated the tempo of the game, all areas that we work very hard on.

The only black mark is that we became sloppy towards the end and conceded three goals, which on the face of it didn’t matter but we need to get in the habit of defending well throughout 90 minutes and not in spells. That said we had gone down to ten men by then after Swinny went off injured and had worked very hard previously so overall I’m delighted.”

The Development Squad have a short break in their fixtures now before the face FC United away in their next game on Saturday 27th September.