MURRAY GAVE COASTERS TITLE ‘EDGE’
ADAM MURRAY says his National League North winners AFC Fylde emphatically answered the questions as to whether they had the edge of champions.
The Coasters are returning to Non-League’s top flight after three years away having got the win they needed at Bradford PA last weekend to top the pile ahead of King’s Lynn Town.
Murray, a National League winner with Mansfield, took the managerial reins in November with promotion the only aim.
And he says the players’ ability to deliver when it mattered the most helped them over the line.
Murray told The NLP: “The one thing with this group – and I said to them when I came in I knew they had some good players and I knew they were a good football team, but I wasn’t sure when they going got tough, if they were mentally strong enough to fight their way out of that situation.
“But we had so many situations where we were either losing 1-0 or it was 0-0 going into the last couple of minutes and they managed to pull it around. “All season they showed it – and that’s the biggest thing when you get to the point of the season where you HAVE to win, from somewhere you have to find that little edge. That’s the biggest difference between teams that go on and win things and teams that let the pressure get to them.
“It was my biggest worry coming into the job. Did we have the steel to go away to places like your Ketterings and Peterboroughs and, when we can’t play our way, have another solution to win games? The boys answered all the questions.
“We won games with set pieces, by being horrible and
scruffy and, on a lot of occasions, by playing really good football.”
Murray knows they will need to be adaptable again next season to overcome all the tests thrown up in the National League.
“I’ve spent the last couple of days watching National League games and the standard is really high,” the 41-year-old added.
“There is a real energy and pace to the level. It’s going to be a tough challenge but one I am looking forward to.”