AFC Fylde manager Dave Challinor was pleased that his side were able to get their season off to a great start with a 1-0 win over Telford United.

The Coasters opened their campaign with a hard fought victory at New Bucks Head with another spectacular strike from Danny Rowe earning Fylde the three points.

“We’re really delighted. It was great to win and fantastic to keep a clean sheet especially with a side that’s been thrown together over the last 24 hours. The experience at the back was massive for us and I always felt that with what we’ve got if we can keep a clean sheet we have a chance of winning any game.

“We were certainly not at our expansive best but, like I say, we’ve thrown a team together at 24 hours’ notice. Defensively, being organised was massive for us today and the lads have used their experience to help us through the game and to get us a really great result.

“In the first fifteen minutes, we looked like a team that hadn’t probably spent a lot of time together. We were a little bit on the back foot and a little bit uncertain as to what we were doing but from the fifteenth minute, we were certainly for the rest of the first half, on the front foot.

“At times, we know we can be free-scoring and with work, that will come. Our success, especially two years ago, was built on being miserly at one end and free-scoring at the other end. We scored the most and conceded the least which I suppose is a great recipe for winning football.”