Express & Star

‘Unique’ wind gifts goal to non-league side and causes chaos for corner taker

For AFC Fylde the windy conditions were both a blessing and a curse.

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Strong winds created a goal and caused havoc with corners as two National League clubs had to play in what they described as “unique” conditions.

Video shows the moment AFC Fylde pulled ahead in their game at home to Hartlepool, after powerful gusts diverted a deflected cross onto the head of striker Danny Rowe.

“It was just a cross that was blocked and the wind picked up, and I just had to get a header on it,” Rowe said after the game.

“It was a strange goal, but I’ll take it.”

While the wind was fortuitous for Rowe, his team-mate Nick Haughton had a tough time taking corners as the ball refused to stay in position.

Haughton later apologised to the club’s groundsman, after he had to dig a trench to keep the ball in position.

“Sorry about the pitch,” he tweeted.

The club’s manager Dave Challinor said the conditions were “unique” and that he has “never played in anything” like it.

“You hope it’s not decided by the wind, but that’s what happened,” he said.

“It was all over the place, if it was going in one direction it would be easier, but it just went everywhere, and everyone on that pitch did a good job.”

Rowe added: “You couldn’t judge anything, it was a tough night whether you were a striker or a defender.”

Fylde won the match 4-2, taking them to fourth in the National League table, while Hartlepool dropped to 13th.

The blustering conditions follow comments from Jurgen Klopp earlier this month, who said after his Liverpool side’s goalless draw with Everton that “the weather circumstances didn’t help for football in general” and made specific reference to the wind.

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