Sedgley Park 37 Fylde 22
Excellent conditions at Park Road set the scene for Lancashire’s top two clubs to face each other in an absorbing encounter. Sedgley Park led the National Two (North) table going into the match and Fylde were in 4th place. The home side had a dominating period in the 2nd quarter and built up what proved to be a match winning 30-3 lead at half-time. They extended this early in the 2nd half before Fylde at last got their running game in gear and hit back with three fine tries in a 15 minute spell. It proved two little, too late, for the visitors as Sedgley ran out deserved winners to secure their top spot. Fylde slipped to 5th place in the division.
Fylde began the match in the most positive way pressing the Tigers back into their own half. They earned a penalty in the 3rd minute and fly-half Greg Smith kicked them into a 0-3 lead. A few minutes later he had a chance to extend this but his penalty kick drifted wide.
Within a couple of minutes Fylde defenders infringed in their own half and Sedgley’s playmaker and goal kicker, former Fylde fly-half Steve Collins, converted the penalty to level the scores.
Sedgley began to dominate possession and territory and they went ahead in the 17th minute from a clever cross field kick by centre Ollie Glasse. This was collected by hooker Matt Gallagher who plunged over in the right hand corner for the try. Collins converted from near the touchline for a 10-3 advantage.
Fylde’s cause wasn’t helped when winger Tom Grimes was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on the ball in a Sedgley attack and was yellow carded for his trouble. He was to redeem himself in the 2nd half. A second Collins penalty extended his side’s lead.
Sedgley took due advantage of their numerical advantage and forced their way inside the Fylde half. The pressure told on the visitors as they were being regularly penalised by referee Llyr Apgeraint-Roberts.
On the half hour, Collins kicked a penalty for the corner and the ensuing powerful driving maul was too much for the Fylde defence with hooker Gallagher the beneficiary as the last man up from the pile of bodies. Collins added the extras and Sedgley were stretching away at 20-3.
Sedgley now had the scent of blood in their nostrils and pressed on with their attacking play. In the 34th minute a neat chip by Collins over the Fylde defence was collected by winger Andy Riley in the in-goal area and he grounded it for a clever try. Collins converted for a 27-3 lead, and extended this on the half-time whistle with a third penalty.
Fylde winger Henry Hadfield was injured just before the break and was replaced by Ben Turner.
It looked like a mountain to climb by Fylde if they were to get back in the game and Joint Head Coach Chris Briers introduced forwards Matt Ashcroft and Charlie Partington into the fray in place of Corey Bowker and Tane Bentley.
However, things got worse for Fylde early in the 2nd period. A fine break by Sedgley winger Jamie Harrison set up the move and he offloaded well to centre Glasse who scored a bonus point 4th try. Dead eye Collins converted for a 37-3 lead.
In the 48th minute, Sedgley scrum-half Openshaw was replaced by former Fylde no 9 Cameron Crampton, who joined other former Fylde players Collins and Mark Goodman in the home ranks.
From this seemingly hopeless position Fylde hit back with spirit and got their running game going. Their talismanic fullback, Tom Carleton, started the comeback finishing off a quality move with some individual brilliance in the 55th minute as he scored in the right corner. Smith’s kick from near the touchline was good.
Sedgley prop John Blanchard was yellow carded for a late tackle in the 62nd minute and this encouraged Fylde to step on the gas. Three minutes later a neat backs move resulted in Tom Grimes scoring in the left corner. Greg Smith’s conversion attempt from the touchline was just wide but the deficit had been reduced to 37-15.
In the 70th minute more inspired attacking by the visitors from inside their own 22m line led to a clever cross field kick which Grimes picked up adroitly and raced 75m downfield for an exceptional try. With Smith’s conversion, the score was 37-22 to Sedgley.
The home side regained control and played out the final minutes to deny Fylde the chance of a four try bonus point. This was a deserved victory for the leaders and in only the 12th ever league game between these Lancashire neighbours equalised the balance sheet at 6 wins each.
Fylde Joint Head Coach Chris Briers said: “Yesterday’s game was tough, as expected, and we produced a below par performance in the first half. The first five minutes went well and we kept possession for a large part of that, which I thought would be a good sign for the day. Unfortunately, we didn’t see much more of the ball that half and Sedgley took control of the game.
“In the 2nd half, like last week, we came out and put in a decent performance. The difference between this week and last week is that you just can’t give teams at the top end of the league a head start like that and expect to be able to pull it back.”
Fylde will look ahead to Saturday’s game against Bournville at the Woodlands, their first ever visit and game between the clubs, as an opportunity to get back in the top group of clubs in National Two (North). They will be hoping that their backrow forwards David Fairbrother, Harlan Corrie and Phill Mills will recover from injuries and get back into the action in the coming weeks.
SEDGLEY PARK: 15 RileyA; 14 Lowthion, 13 Glasse, 12 RileyM, 11 Harrison (Openshaw 71); 10 Collins, 9 Openshaw (Crampton 48); 1 Blanchard (Chilvers 73), 2 Gallagher, 3 Black (Nonleh 26, Black 55), 4 Birtwell, 5 CroweO, 6 Goodman (CroweE 51), 7 Lees, 8 Ailes (Nonleh 69).
Non-playing replacement: James.
FYLDE: 15 Carleton; 14 Hadfield (Turner 35), 13 Forster, 12 Rawlings, 11 Grimes; 10 Smith, 9 Sturgess; 1 Kyle-Clay, 2 Gregory, 3 Bowker (Ashcroft 40), 4 Parkinson, 5 Garrod, 6 Blake, 7 Bentley (Partington 40), 8 O’Ryan.
Non-playing replacements: Barrow & Lanigan.