Coasters' TV Test Is Perfect For Wembley Hunter Challinor

“Wouldn’t it be nice to get to Wembley twice?” said the AFC Fylde boss. “That’ll do perfectly! I could think of worse places to spend two weekends in May.

“I’ve never managed a side there before and I cannot wait. The goal now is to make the FA Trophy final part two. It could be potentially quite a party!

“We’ve not done what some clubs do and ban the ‘W’ word. We’re embracing it.

“Not every club or every player gets to play there so we will use it as inspiration but ideally now we want to be there twice inside a week. I’d love to think that’s possible.”

You’ve probably read between the lines, Challinor has all-but ended the club’s interest in the title race.

Defeat to Leyton Orient, their Trophy final opponents, on Tuesday night nailed that particular coffin with a month to go.

Ahead of Saturday’s live BT Sport lunchtime showdown at Aldershot, he was open about their ambitions.

“You never like to say it until it’s mathematically no longer possible but in order to have a realistic chance we had to win there,” he accepts.

“We could have made them think but it wasn’t to be. We knew it was going to need a big turn around and you have to say Orient are really in the driving seat now.

“The game reminded me a lot of Boreham Wood in the play-offs last year. We let in goals from two re-starts and our start to the game really cost us.”

It was that game which drew a big response from the manager last May as he promised to get to the bottom of the lack of leadership and experience in his dressing room.

So, with four weeks to go, how would he assess the club’s improvement more than ten months on from those comments?

“We learnt a lot that day, I learnt a lot,” said the former Tranmere Rovers defender.

“I think we’ve come on. Our defensive record is better. Last year our games became a bit of a shoot out to see who could score the most goals. That’s not been the case this year.

“We came in as newboys and let’s not forget we were 19th at Christmas. People said a lot about Solihull’s revival but we did so well in the second half of last season.

“This year people know us and I’m sure Aldershot will be clued up and know what to expect.

“They’ll be fighting for their lives and will be desperate to stay in the league for another year. We’ve got to be at our very best.”

He added: ‘For me it’s fantastic that the game is on BT Sport. It gives things that little more of an edge and it pumps the players up which is what we really need.”

The game will all be shown live on BT Sport 1 and on 4KUHD - kick-off 12.35pm.