Ten-man AFC Fylde suffered a damaging 3-1 defeat at the hands of struggling Lowestoft Town in a bad-tempered match at Crown Meadow.

Tom Hannigan’s own goal gifted the hosts the lead, before Danny Rowe equalised with his 27th goal of the season.

However, Michael Spillane and a Jake Reed penalty sealed the three points against Fylde, who saw Sam Finley dismissed late on for dissent.

Manager Dave Challinor was forced into making one change from the side that beat Gloucester City at the weekend with Dom Collins replacing the injured Caspar Hughes.

The late arrival of several Lowestoft players saw the kick-off delayed by 15 minutes and it was Fylde, in their striking orange away shirt, who fashioned the first chance of the evening when Danny Lloyd broke into the Lowestoft box inside the first minute, but his left-footed effort was deflected over.

Just five minutes in and the Coasters were behind. Ryan Jarvis whipped in a dangerous freekick from the left and Hannigan turned the ball into the bottom corner of his own net.

The defender almost made immediate amends when he fired over from six yards from Richie Baker’s inswinging corner kick. Defensive partner Collins had the next opportunity in the 13th minute, but he too was off target with a glancing header.

A quiet ten-minute spell was brought to life when prolific frontman Reed broke free but he chose not to play in a teammate and his strike was snuffed out.

Rowe came agonisingly close to levelling the scores when he unleashed a trademark rocket freekick, but his strike was eventually claimed by Ben Killip in the Lowestoft goal.

However, he was successful with his next meaningful attempt and drew the Coasters level on 36 minutes. Finley crossed from the right and Rowe climbed highest to flick his header into the far corner of the net.

Forward Chris Henderson almost put the hosts straight back into the lead when he met Jarvis’ corner, but his right-footed shot was narrowly wide of Matt Urwin’s post. Baker had a wild swipe for the visitors a couple of minutes before the break, but his left-footed thunderbolt was high and wide.

Challinor made a double change at the interval with Dion Charles and Matt Blinkhorn replacing Collins and Lloyd as the Coasters reverted to a 4-4-2 formation.

There was very little action in the opening 10 minutes of the second half before Finley broke down the left and delivered a cross to Blinkhorn but the midfielder was adjudged offside.

The hosts were back ahead on 59 minutes and it was a goal of real quality as Spillane curled a first time effort from the edge of the area into the far corner.

The play raced straight up to the other end from the restart and the Coasters were awarded a freekick 20 yards out that Baker struck straight at Killip.

Substitute Blinkhorn was presented with a glorious opportunity moments later when he was slipped through by Rowe, however his low drive was wide of the keeper’s right hand post.

The game was becoming an end to end affair and both defender Adam Smith and Spillane fired well over from successive dangerous freekicks.

Finley looked to drag his side back into the match on 67 minutes yet after twisting and turning on the edge of the Lowestoft area he was wide with his end product.  

Hannigan’s match went from bad to worse when he hauled down Henderson in the area and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Reed duly dispatched the spot-kick with aplomb and to make matters worse still, Finley was dismissed for a second yellow card in the following protests.  

Fylde were beginning to lose their discipline and could have netted a second own goal of the evening when Adam Sumner turned Shaun Bammant’s cross inches wide of his own post.

Rowe could have pulled one back for the Coasters five minutes from time but he lashed his first-time piledriver into the grateful arms of Killip.

 

Lowestoft Town: Killip, Barker, Smith, Fisk, Spillane, Kyprianou, Hodd, Jarvis (66), Reed (82), Jarvis, Henderson.

Subs: Eagle, Crow (82), Bammant (66), Deeks, Jessup.

Goals: Hannigan OG 5, Spillane 59, Reed 78

AFC Fylde: Urwin, Collins (46), Hannigan, Crainey, Sumner, Baker, Barnes, Finley, M. Hughes (79), Lloyd (46), Rowe.

Subs: Hinchliffe, Charles (46), Hardy (79), Blinkhorn (46).

Goals: Rowe 36

Ref: Josh Smith

Att: 438