Fylde 35 Luctonians 22: report by Elliot Burrow
It wasn’t easy, and it was definitely a tense final 20 minutes, but Fylde managed to dig deep to see off the Luctonians with 14 men.
Fylde had raced into a 28 – 10 lead thanks to tries from Carleton, Gregory, Forster and Sturgess, and it looked as though a routine second-half performance would have allowed them to see out another win.
However, Hadfield’s red card with 20 minutes to play and the score still the same it was at the break created pressure for the hosts, and when Aiden Chester scored moments later, it looked as though it was going to be anything but plain sailing.
They dug deep though, and scored a further try thanks to quick thinking from Greg Smith who kicked into space and found Tom Grimes, which made it a comfortable enough final 10 minutes for them to hold out.
It was Ladies Day at the club, with a crowd of over 600 in attendance, and Fylde made one change to the starting line-up that fell to defeat over in the Humberside last week, Harlan Corrie joining the back row alongside Charlie Partington and David Fairbrother, with Marcus Blake named on the bench.
Their opposition the Luctonians had an excellent time of things through March, starting it off with a narrow 13-15 home defeat to third placed Sedgley, before securing an away bonus point win over Bournville and then rounding it off without conceding a point in a 43-0 victory over Blaydon.
This helped the team from Herefordshire climb up to 7th in the table, and they came to the Woodlands today looking to be only the second team this season to complete the league double over Fylde, after edging them out 15-14 back in November.
A team that haven’t scored that many points compared to Fylde’s total, which is still the highest in the league, Luctonians have a solid defence which has only seen them concede 416 points this campaign, their heaviest defeat coming in October, 38-7 away to Sedgley.
Being located in the south of the country means the visitors had to make a round trip of just over 300 miles today, taking six and a half hours in the process, and with the current rise in fuel prices, it was a credit to them for still turning up and fulfilling the fixture.
The Fylde coast even welcomed them with some sunshine, despite it still being cold, as Fylde kicked us off and got proceedings underway.
An early Fylde penalty gave Greg Smith a chance to open up the scoring, but his kick slid wide of the posts and gave Luctonians a chance to relieve the early pressure.
That didn’t last for long though, as with only four minutes gone on the clock the ever dangerous Tom Carleton found a gap in the Luctonians defence and raced over to score.
Greg Smith converted to give Fylde a 7-0 lead but they were reduced to 14 men minutes later when Henry Hadfield was sin binned.
Luctonians made the extra man and the pressure count when Jason Watkins scored from close range, but Fylde soon regained control when Ben Gregory crossed off the back of a rolling maul, with Smith converting to make it 14-5.
Fylde then broke from their own half in typical trademark fashion, Tom Grimes racing clear up the left before offloading to the supporting Carleton, who somehow managed to keep the play flowing, and found Tom Forster who held off the chasing Luctonian defenders, to dive over and extend the home side’s advantage.
Smith slotted over the conversion to make it 21-5, but the visitors were still causing Fylde problems, and Charlie Grimes scored after Fylde failed to deal with a kick, to put them well and truly back in the contest.
Whenever they looked as though they were starting to get within touching distance, Fylde extended again, this time David Fairbrother with one of his trademark hard runs burst through up the middle, and found the supporting Matt Sturgess back on his inside who went on to score. Smith converted to make it Fylde 28 – 10 Luctonians at the break, and despite being a man down at the start of the half, they still went on to score two excellent tries at the end of it to finish the stronger of the teams.
In the second-half chances were few and far between for both sides, but with 59 minutes played Hadfield received a second yellow card, reducing his team to 14.
Luctonians kicked to touch from the resulting penalty, and Aiden Cheshire powered over from the line-out, to set up a tense final 20 minutes and reduce the deficit between the two teams to 13 points.
The visitors continued to roll forward and mount pressure on the Fylde line, asking questions as to how long Fylde could keep them at bay for.
They looked as though they were about to score when Ben O’Ryan produced a superb piece of work on his own line where he managed to get his hands on the ball and win a penalty for his side for not releasing.
It certainly gave Fylde the break and boost they needed, and Tom Grimes settled the nerves even more, after he got onto the end of a clever Greg Smith kick to the corner to score, Smith himself converting.
Ben Murphy scored a late converted try for the away team which made it Fylde 35 – 22 Luctonians, but it was too late for it to start any comeback by this point, and moments later the referee blew his whistle, and Fylde had dug deep to record another home success.
The win kept Fylde 5th in the table, and they now face another tough away trip to Stourbridge before their next home game on April 16 against league leaders Hull.
The Fylde Coaches selected David Fairbrother as the home team’s MoM, and opposing number 8, Aidan Cheshire, as Luctonians’ star performer. ‘Fairy’ dedicated his performance to the late, cross code legend, David Stephenson, one of his coaches at Fleetwood RUFC, who had been an inspiration to him.
Click here for Chris Farrow’s 200 or so match photos.
Teams
Fylde: Carleton, Hadfield, Forster, Rawlings, Grimes, Smith, Sturgess, Kyle-Clay, Gregory, Ashcroft, Parkinson, Garrod, Partington, Corrie, Fairbrother.
Replacements: Bowker, Barrow, Blake, O’Ryan, Lanigan.
Luctonians: Bengry, Wheeler, Watkins, Owen, Grimes, Jones, Nott, Deignan, Link, White, Smith, Whiteman, Jones, Hackley, Cheshire.
Replacements: Murphy, Smith, Kone, Pearson, Randell.
Star Man: David Fairbrother – A gritty performance from the number eight, who alongside his team mates dug deep when they went down to 14 men and helped them see out an important win. Strong running, strong tackling and covering every yard of the pitch, a typical ‘Fairy’ performance.
Game Breaking Moment: It’s always expected that a try can change a game, but after Fylde had been reduced to 14 men, they faced a strong period of pressure from the Luctonians, and Ben O’Ryan produced an excellent turnover on his own try line to win Fylde a penalty and get them out of danger.
Attendance: 626