The Coasters unbeaten and winning run came to an end against a Boston United side that took advantage of some poor defending from corners as The Pilgrims ran out 3-1 victory at the Jakeman’s Stadium.

It was built up to be a game of chess, with one team probably coming out just on top and, unfortunately for The Coasters, it wasn’t them as they suffered their first defeat in 15 games thanks to goals from Zak Mills and a Carl Piergianni brace for the home side.

The away side actually started the game going forward better than their Lincolnshire counterparts as inside the first 30 seconds Richie Allen broke down the left and nearly found a way past Dixon in the Boston goal.  Then Coasters then forced a forcer before Boston’s first attempt at trying to take on the Fylde defence but no chance of note happened until the first goal of this game.

After 18 minutes, striker Jamie Allen tucked the ball past the onrushing Dixon to put the Coasters 1-0 up.  It was a cute finish from the forward who scored his first goal in an AFC Fylde shirt and from then onwards it looked like the Coasters would come out on top.

Fylde had dominated proceedings so far, but the game turned on its head just after the half hour mark.  First, Scott Garner somehow dribbled the ball through the Coasters defence and had an attempt at goal but Hinchliffe had to get down well to save.  The home side were then building some good momentum and despite Rene Steer’s wild 30 yard drive not troubling Hinchliffe, it was just a minute later that Boston United got back into this game.

Greg Tempest’s audacious attempt nearly caught out Ben Hinchliffe and thankfully he managed to tip it round the post for a corner, but to Fylde’s dismay the resulting corner saw Boston equalise through Zak Mills tapping in at the far post and just like that, the game was tied.

Such was the shock of conceding, The Coasters didn’t get over it and conceded five minute later after an unmarked Carl Piergianni headed past Hinchliffe to give the home side the lead.  It was three just after half time, within four minutes in fact.

Tempest, who caused The Coasters a lot of problems on the day, hit a great corner in on 49 minutes and there was Piergianni again at hand to send a header into the Fylde net and put Boston 3-1 up.

The game was now firmly in the control of the home side and they hit the post just after the hour after substitute Zeph Thomas connected well with Felix’s cross but his flick hit the post.

Although The Coasters tried to shake things up with the introduction of the two Danny’s – Rowe and Lloyd – they couldn’t find a way back into the match despite numerous attempts in the final half an hour.  Lloyd missed a fantastic chance to get Fylde back into the game as he missed a point blank header from a couple of yards out, before a final minute penalty was given for handball.  Richie Allen stepped up to take it, but keeper Joel Dixon guessed correctly and kept it out.

It was one of those days for The Coasters, and they’ll be looking to resurrect their fantastic start to the season when they face Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup next week.

Boss Dave Challinor had this to say after the defeat: ‘We’ve had a great run up to now, it was inevitable that we’d lose a game at some point but to lose it like we did today is very unlike us as we work hard on set pieces.  We’ve cost ourselves today and it’s all about how we come back from this and try to get back in winning form.  We were comfortable in the first half an hour and I can’t really comprehend how we’ve come away from the game with nothing’.

‘We’re really looking forward to the FA Cup game next weekend and although we’ve lost here today, we’ll still keep the same mentality, which is a winning one at present and work on our game to make sure things that happened today won’t happen again next week’.

Boston United: J. Dixon, Mills, Steer, K. Dixon, Garner ©, Piergianni, Marrs, Tempest, Southwell (63), Jones (75), Felix.

Subs: Galinkski, Marshall, Hollingsworth (75), Doran, Thomas (63).

Goals: Mills (39), Piergianni (45 + 49)

AFC Fylde: Hinchlffe, Hughes, Sumner, Langley, Hannigan, B. Barnes ©, Tomsett (57), Potts (57), M. Barnes, R. Allen, J.Allen.

Subs: Booth, Denson, Lloyd (57), Charles, Rowe (57).

Goals: J. Allen (18)

Yellow: Sumner (8)

HT: 2-1

ATT: 952

MOTM: Carl Piergianni

Coasters MOTM: Jamie Allen