Neal Ardley was delighted with what he saw from his team in this afternoon's Buildbase FA Trophy quarter-final victory over Aveley.
Jim O’Brien, Tom Crawford, Sam Osborne, Kyle Wootton and new signing Scott Wilson all found the target as we made light work of a potential banana skin of a tie at Meadow Lane.
And it was the perfect day at the office in Ardley’s eyes.
“I’m pleased with the professionalism, energy and tempo we played at,” said the boss.
“The perfect scenario for today would be the ability to tinker with the team and get through with no injuries going into a heavy schedule.
“It’s worked out well and we’ve managed to give a few people a breather.
“I didn’t know what to expect and thought we might be up against it.
“They went for it, but from early on we caused them problems and that’s why we work on the patterns we do in training.”
Ardley enjoyed the performance of Man of the Match Crawford and felt Wilson’s strike exemplified the reasons we signed him.
“The goal showed what he is about and he has the pace to get in behind people and then he’s usually lethal when he’s in,” he said.
“We were pushing to get the deal done so we could use him today.
“Tom Crawford was excellent. He’s got fitter, stronger and has learned how to do the nitty-gritty without the ball.”
Now attention turns to two tough league ties as we prepare to go Saturday-Tuesday for the foreseeable future.
“We’re looking forward to it and will need everyone now so we have to be excited by the challenge,” added Ardley.
“We’ll prepare for Fylde first and then we’ll take on the best team in the league afterwards.
“Now we’re where we are we want to win the Trophy and it’s exciting for the fans.
“Hopefully we go into the last four weeks of the season with a chance of both the play-offs and of winning this.”