The Coasters are through to the final qualifying round of the FA Cup following a hard fought win over Northern Premier League Premier Division leaders Buxton.

Michael Barnes scored the only goal of the game mid-way through the first half after a mistake from Shaun Tuton which allowed him to race through one-on-one and beat Arron Jameson with a fine strike.

Buxton came and made it hard for Fylde and neither side created much early on with Fylde’s Danny Rowe’s free kick flying just wide of the post for the first chance of the game on seven minutes.

But then Michael Potts, twice, and Richie Allen came close to opening the scoring for Fylde but all three strikes went high or wide of the mark.

Jonathan William’s long-range effort was deflected wide by a Fylde defender before Alastair Taylor sent a wild shot way over the bar on 21 minutes.

Fylde hit back from that brief spell and, after Tuton’s mistake, Barnes raced through to blast the ball past Jameson with 23 minutes on the clock.

Fylde could have had a second three minutes later when Bradley Barnes sent an ambitious volley over the bar. And then Allen couldn’t beat Jameson after some excellent play allowed him some space to get a shot on goal.

Taylor wasted another couple of half chances for the visitors before Potts forced a good save from Jameson as the first half drew to a close.

The second period began as the first did with both sides pressing well but creating little in the way of chances. Danny Rowe got too much on his free header ten minutes after the restart, diverting Mike Barnes’ cross well wide of the Buxton goal.

Taylor eventually found the target with another shot of his own but this time could only send it straight at keeper Ben Hinchliffe. Ash Palmer then headed wide for the visitors just past the hour.

The Coasters then enjoyed a very good spell of possession and were very unlucky not to add a second through Josh Langley and Liam Tomsett’s failed chances.

The watching crowd of 639 thought they were about to witness Caspar Hughes’s first ever goal for Fylde when he surged forward from right back and unleashed a bullet of a strike which Jameson had to parry away and clear.

But the highlight of the half came 16 minutes from time when new loan signing from Fleetwood Town, Jamie Allen, fired an excellent volley at goal from 15 yards which was equally well saved by the on-form Jameson.

Fylde weren’t finished there either as Danny Lloyd had a shot cleared off the line, Joe Booth’s free kick was tipped away and Brad Barnes’ low strike was well held.

However, Buxton will feel aggrieved to have been denied a penalty with eight minutes to go, and a possible replay, when Josh Langley looked to have brought down Craig King but only a corner was awarded by referee Anthony Backhouse and The Coasters held on for the win.

Challinor was pleased to get through but felt his side could have done better. “It was great to win and great to keep our run going but I was disappointed with our performance if I’m honest.

“I said to the lads afterwards that we’ve played an awful lot better and they’ve set the standard themselves this year and I’d say we had a minimum of four or five of them who were not at their best today and that’s always difficult.”

He added: “I’ve asked them many times this year that we have to learn from our performances even in victory really and hopefully that’ll show them that there is still a lot of work to do and if we aren’t at it then games are going to be difficult. We need to get better and hopefully we’ll learn from that.

“But on the flip side it was a good game and we’re through to the next round so we’ll look forward to the draw.”

Challinor’s side only have to wait until Monday morning to seeing who they will meet in that Fourth Qualifying Round and the draw will be made live on Talk Sport Radio at 10:30am.

AFC Fylde: Hinchliffe, Hughes, Sumner, Langley, Hannigan, B. Barnes (C), Tomsett (Booth 68), Potts, Rowe (J. Allen 58), M. Barnes (Lloyd 74), R. Allen; Subs not used: Dootson, Denson, Charles, Blinkhorn.
GOAL: Michael Barnes (23)
YELLOW: Bradley Barnes (46)

Buxton: Jameson, Istead, Green, Williams (Stevens 50), Palmer, Young, Taylor, Niven (C), King, Hardy (Broadhead 50), Tuton; Subs not used: Read, Davies, Ludlam, Ryan, Reay.
YELLOW: Neil Stevens (70)

HT: 1-0
ATT: 639
MOM: Casper Hughes (AFC Fylde)