AFC Fylde will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of their Academy counterparts this weekend when they take on North Ferriby United in the National League North Promotion Final.

The young Coasters pulled off a sensational result in the North West Youth Alliance Cup Final, seeing off league leaders Chester Youth 3-1 to lift the trophy.

Fylde enjoyed an impressive run to the final, knocking out Salford City (5-0), West Didsbury & Chorlton (8-1) and Curzon Ashton (1-0) on route.

The triumph saw the Fylde youngsters top off a successful season and lift their first ever piece of silverware.

Fylde started the game strongly led by striker James Sloane, who has made the bench for Dave Challinor’s first team this season. Sloane won a free-kick on the edge of the Chester box on 20 minutes and Man of the Match Jordan Wynne fired the resultant kick past the helpless goalkeeper.

Chester levelled the score on 32 minutes from the penalty spot before stopper Max Povey kept the Coasters in the game with a fantastic one-on-one save as Chester’s attack broke free.

Shortly before half-time a great move culminated in Jack Kay unselfishly sliding the ball in for Wynne to bag his second and give the Coasters a deserved 2-1 lead going in to the break.

Fylde continued to threaten in the second-half but found the Chester goalkeeper in fine form. 

However, with just 15 minutes remaining Serhat Tasdemir, who had terrorised the Chester backline all afternoon, found Sloane on the edge of the box and he out muscled his marker before striking a thunderbolt into the far corner to seal a famous win.

Manager Chris Ganner was delighted with his young stars: “I am incredibly proud of each and every one of the lads. They worked their socks off for 90 minutes and fully deserved the victory. There was plenty of quality on show and it was great to be part of a cup winning team.

“They have been outstanding all season and if this is anything to go by then the future is very bright for AFC Fylde.”

Under the stewardship of new management team Ganner and Cairns Hardie, the young Coasters are also hoping to seal second spot in the Youth Alliance Premier Division with just three games to play.