AFC Fylde close in on promotion

AFC Fylde set up a final day Vodkat League title decider against New Mills, courtesy of a 2-0 win at Bacup.

An early goal from Phil Blackwell and another just before half-time from Martin Moran earned victory for Mick Fuller's men.

But with New Mills also winning, AFC Fylde remain in second place in the Vodkat League Premier Division.

They now need to beat New Mills at Kellamergh Park on Saturday to clinch both the championship and promotion.

In a game they had to win, Fylde made a perfect start when they opened the scoring inside the third minute.

A cross into the box was cleared only as far as Phil Blackwell on the edge of the box, and he curled a shot across the keeper and into the far corner of the net.

The opening half hour saw the visitors well in control, and they could easily have added to their tally.

Micky Horsfall had a header cleared off the line, Allan Jackson just failed to connect with a cross at the far post, and a Mark Wane glancing header rebounded off the post as Bacup desperately kept the Fylde attacks at bay.

Four minutes from the break, the pressure eventually told when Fylde added a second goal, when Martin Moran fired a shot through a ruck of players to double his side's advantage.

Right on half-time, Bacup's Bryan Herbert and Fylde's Phil Thompson were involved in a challenge that led to players on both sides squaring up to one another.

After consulting his assistant, the referee showed red cards to Bacup's Martin Peters and Fylde's Phil Thompson, and Herbert received a yellow card for his involvement.

Within three minutes of the restart, Bacup's leading scorer Tommy Turner spurned two glorious chances to bring his side back into the game.

After heading wide from a Jamie Rother cross, Turner outpaced the Fylde defence to set up a one on one with keeper Nathan Worrell, who made a fine one-handed save from Turner's shot.

On the hour mark, good work from Fylde's Chris Downey set up a chance for Joe Booth, but the midfielder's shot rebounded off the post with the keeper beaten.

With 15 minutes remaining a poor clearance from Bacup keeper Tony Tompos went straight to Fylde subsititute Dan Mahoney, but the keeper redeemed himself with a good save from Mahoney's well struck shot.