William Bewsey
12:03pm, Thu 28th Sep 2023
AFC Fylde v Woking
Vanarama National League
Saturday 30th September 2023
15:00 Kick-Off
Woking will hope to bounce back from consecutive defeats when they make the trip to Lancashire to take on AFC Fylde.
After a disappointing performance and result on Tuesday night, Darren Sarll indicated that Dennon Lewis and Sam Habergham should be back for the trip to Mill Farm, as new signings Alfie Pavey and Thomas Dickson-Peters begin to be integrated further into the squad following their debuts on Tuesday night.
Opposition Watch
Promoted as National League North champions last season, Fylde have mainly recruited from the league they came from, with the signings of dangerous winger Jonathan Ustabasi and striker Gold Omotayo getting five goals between them, having signed from Chorley and Kings Lynn respectively. Other signings included Theo Richardson, a keeper from Buxton, former one time Woking loanee Kieran Glynn from Scarborough, and previous National League winner Josh Kay from Barrow.
Despite this, it's been a slow start out of the blocks for Fylde, with two wins, three draws and seven defeats from their first 12 games, meaning they currently sit in 22nd. However, they've picked up four points in their last two games, with a 2-1 away win at Southend followed by a 2-2 draw at home to Boreham Wood showing signs of improvement under former Besiktas assistant Adam Murray.
The former Premier League midfielder was appointed manager of the Coasters in November 2022 with their promotion hopes languishing, and after winning the manager of the month award for January, his side picking up 95 points from 46 games in the end to pip Kings Lynn Town to the title on the final day.
Last Time Out
Woking continued what was a seriously impressive start to the National League season in 2019/20 by beating Fylde 4-1 at Mill Farm, with a Dave Tarpey free kick added to by two Jake Hyde goals and a Kane Ferdinand header, as the Coasters would actually be relegated on points per game due to COVID.
The Cards have actually won all three meetings with their opponents, with the side that eventually went down in 2017-18 getting six points from their play-off bound rivals; a Lazar Stojsavljevic header taking all three points at Kingfield in January 2018, with goals from Joe Ward and Jamie Philpot enough for a 2-1 win at Mill Farm in September 2017.
Around the Ground
As a newly built ground, Mill Farm is not close to many pubs or restaurants, but does offer an excellent sports bar on site, as well as an ALDI, KFC and Greggs. There are some pubs in Wesham, which are about a 20 minute walk or 3 minute drive from the ground.
Woking fans will be located in the South Stand terrace and offered some seats in the West Stand, and there are food and drink options available in the concourse.
The Cards Trust are running a supporters coach to the game, details are available
here.
Ticket details are available
here.
