AFC Fylde 1 – 4 Woking
Montrose 56′ – Tarpey 17′, Ferdinand 39′, Hyde 83′, 86′.
In-form Woking dealt The Coasters their first setback of the new campaign, with midfielder Ryan Croasdale seeing red in the second half.
The Coasters made a couple of notable changes from the midweek draw at Hartlepool United, with captain Lewis Montrose earning his first start of the season – alongside Matty Kosylo being handed his a starting berth.
It was the visitors who started strongly, with the newly promoted side gaining the lead after a quarter of an hour.
After opening his account midweek at Chesterfield with a free-kick, Dave Tarpey lined up a strike in a very familiar position.
Tarpey got his effort over the wall and gave Montgomery little chance of getting back across his line, pushing it into the net in the process.
Fylde tried to find their way back into the game, with Haughton’s near post corner nearly being diverted goal wards by Danny Rowe – but Ross was equal to his attempt.
Although the Coasters had plenty of possession, they couldn’t make it tell, and just five minutes before the interval, Woking doubled their lead.
Josh Casey’s pinpoint delivery found the onrushing Kane Ferdinand, who rose brilliantly to head it into the bottom left hand corner.
The Coasters could have halved the deficit on the stroke of half time, after Haughton’s clever one-two with Philliskirk saw the forward burst into the box with acres of space.
His strike however was taken slightly off balance, and rather than ripple the back of the net, his effort ended up with the fans behind the goal.
In the second half, the referee was at the centre of a couple of big decisions, the first coming after Montrose and Ferdinand tangled, and Ferdinand seemed to lash at Montrose off the ball.
In the aftermath, four players were booked, with Ferdinand perhaps lucky to have stayed on the pitch.
However, from the resulting free-kick Montrose had the final word on the incident, as he headed home Scott Duxbury’s excellent cross past Craig Ross, giving Fylde hope.
Now galvanised, the Coasters took the game to Woking, and were close to drawing level after
Kosylo’s low shot crept agonisingly past the post.
It fizzed appetisingly across the goul mouth but Danny Philliskirk, the closest to it, couldn’t react quick enough to turn it home.
This proved to be a sliding doors moment, as just ten minutes later Ryan Croasdale was dismissed for a second yellow card, after bringing down Dave Tarpey.
His first came somewhat dubiously ten minutes earlier, in a challenge where he appeared to cleanly win the ball, but there was no denying the second.
This prompted changes, with Willoughby and Yeates joining Dan Bradley amongst the Fylde introductions, with an improvised back three set-up to try and force an equaliser.
However, Woking substitute Jake Hyde came on to make an instant impact, nodding home from close range after Fylde had become exposed, putting the game beyond reach.
With the game all but over, Edser burst into the Coasters penalty area and was hauled down by Duxbury – inviting Hyde to step up and slot home his second, condemning Fylde to a first league defeat.
Teams
AFC Fylde: Montgomery, Duxbury, Byrne, Whitmore, Burke (Willoughby 79’), Montrose (Yeates 72’), Croasdale, Philliskirk (Bradley 61’) , Kosylo, Haughton, Rowe.
Subs unused: Jameson, Williams.
Woking: : Ross, Cook, Parry, Gerring, Casey; Ferdinand, Donnellan, Edser (Poku 86’); Johnson, Tarpey (Hodges 80’), Meite (Hyde 66’).
Subs unused: Howes; Collier.
