The Coasters booked their place in The Emirates FA Cup First Round with a 2-0 victory over Kidderminster Harriers at Mill Farm in the Fourth Qualifying Round replay.
Siyabonga Ligendza opened the scoring when he nodded in Kyle Morrison’s tremendous cross from the right before Luke Charman thundered a strike into the top corner from distance.
Andy Taylor made one change to the side from Saturday’s 2-2 draw, with Kyle Morrison replacing Nick Haughton in the Coasters squad.
It was Harriers who started on the front foot, and in the first minute, they almost found an opener when Jack Bearne was found sprinting into the area. He took one touch and crossed across the face of goal, which Chris Neal came to collect, let slip through his gloves, but quickly recover to gather.
As the game started to find its rhythm, the Coasters came with their first attack of the game after Luke Conlan & Tom Walker combined for the latter to cross towards Connor Barrett at the back post, but a foul by the right back allowed the referee to play advantage once Tom Palmer gathered.
The Coasters were playing some nice free-flowing football, but the next opportunity came for the visitors when from a corner, the ball fell to the feet of Krystian Pearce, who didn’t think twice about lacing an effort goalwards but couldn’t find a gap in a forest of Fylde shirts.
It seemed to be when one side attacked, the other followed their lead, and this time after Siya Ligendza was fouled around 30 yards from goal, Danny Rowe stepped up and drilled an effort off a wet Mill Farm surface and into the gloves of Palmer.
However, the last bit of action fell the Coasters’ way when Danny Philliskirk worked a little bit of space for himself to line an effort up, but again, Palmer was able to gather into his gloves.
Half-Time: AFC Fylde 0-0 Kidderminster Harriers
Andy Taylor’s team talk must have been a positive one as the Coasters came out on the front foot, and that led to Ligendza cutting inside and testing Palmer from distance, which the Harriers shot-stopper just dealt with to tip over.
The saying ‘the game needs a goal’ rang true for this game, and the Coasters made sure that was on order as Kyle Morrison was able to cross first time into the area where an unmarked Ligendza was waiting to nod home for the opener.
With momentum in hand, the Coasters almost had another when Luke Charman worked tremendously hard to charge down the line and pull back for Danny Whitehead, who shot after taking a touch but saw his effort eventually blocked.
If there was ever a way to mark your home debut, Charman did it. He picked up the ball on the half turn from a Tom Walker pass, opened his body up and found the top corner from just outside the area, putting the icing on the cake and the Coasters into the First Round.
Full-Time: AFC Fylde 2-0 Kidderminster Harriers
AFC Fylde: Neal, Barrett (59’ Danny Whitehead), Whitmore, Davis, Morrison, Conlan, Philliskirk, Weston, Walker (82’ Rowley), Ligendza (71’ Charman), Rowe.
Unused subs: Bird, Obi, Hatfield, Haughton.
Kidderminster Harriers: Palmer, Richards, Pearce, Leak, Margetson, Byrne (78’ Freemantle), Bearne (69’ Burgess), Martin (61’ Morgan-Smith), Ceesay, Hemmings.
Unused Subs: Emery, Brown, Lissimore, Rogers.
