Scarborough Athletic set for crunch home clash against promotion rivals AFC Fylde

Michael Coulson scored both goals for Boro in the win at Fylde

In-form AFC Fylde visit the Flamingo Land Stadium for a crunch clash, having won nine and drawn two of their last 13 league and cup matches, writes Steve Adamson.

Their only recent defeats were 1-0 at Gillingham in an FA Cup first round replay on 15 November (having knocked out Farsley Celtic, Congleton Town and Kidderminster in previous rounds), and 2-1 at home to Chorley on Boxing Day.

Fylde went joint-top of the league with a 1-0 home win against Buxton on Tuesday, courtesy of a Pierce Bird strike.

Kieran Glynn continued his superb form in the win against Blyth

Based in the small town of Wesham, just seven miles from Blackpool and nine miles from Preston, they were formerly known as Kirkham & Wesham (winning the FA Vase in 2008), then changing their name to AFC Fylde, and now play at the fabulous 6,000 capacity multi-million pound Mill Farm complex, and the team, which is full-time, is managed by former Mansfield Town and Boston United boss Adam Murray.

Back in August, skipper Michael Coulson scored both goals as Boro won 2-0 at Mill Farm, and new loan signing, 18-year-old Harrogate Town striker Emmanuel Ilesanmi will be included in the squad.

Boro are only three points behind leading pair Kings Lynn Town and AFC Fylde, having played three more matches, and are the league’s great entertainers, being second top scorers, behind Darlington, but only three teams have conceded more, with Boro’s 26 National League North games to date producing an incredible 90 goals (48-42).

The match will kick off at 3pm this Saturday, with their North Riding Cup clash with Thornaby on Tuesday January 24, 7.45pm kick-off.FORM GUIDE - LAST SIX MATCHES

SCARBOROUGH ATHLETIC (5th)

Southport (A) D 1-1 985

Peterborough Spts (H) W 2-1 1145

Darlington (A) W 3-2 3059

Darlington (H) L 2-5 3205

Hereford (A) L 0-2 2061

Blyth Spartans (H) W 3-2 1514

AFC FYLDE (2nd)

Kidderminster(FAT) (H) D 1-1(2-4p) 328

Chorley (H)L 1-2 1937

Chorley (A) W1-0 2173

Banbury United (H) W 5-0 896

Southport (A) W 2-1 1333

Buxton (H) W 1-0 701