AFC Fylde boss Dave Challinor was beaming with pride despite his side’s FA Cup exit at Wigan Athletic.
The brave Coasters led their League One hosts going into the final 10 minutes of the second round replay, however Northern Ireland international Will Grigg came off the bench to nick it for the Latics.
Challinor said: “I feel a massive about of pride, tinged with disappointment. We were so near yet so far. If only football matches were 80 minutes long then we’d be in the third round!
“I knew the last ten minutes would be tough because we had a long, tough trip on Saturday. It is a massive pitch at Wigan and we put in a huge amount of effort.
“We hoped that we could see it out at 2-1 but we switched off towards the end and we paid the ultimate price for it.
“We were solid, we were organised and we had an idea of how they would play. Knowing that and stopping it are two different things but I was really pleased with how we started the game.
“We had plenty of attempts and the goal on half-time really gave us a lift. We went ahead with 20 minutes to go and the clock seemed to go pretty slowly from there!
“I never felt under massive pressure but we were always wary because they can just turn it on.
“Games can change very quickly – it becomes 2-2 and they have the wind in their sails. Anyone that is tired at that point feels a whole lot more tired and we couldn’t hold on. Extra time after that would have been a big ask.
“I though we defended manfully and our wide players were fantastic against their full-backs. Plus I thought Jordan and Zaine defended unbelievably well against very good players.”