Fylde 15 – 10 Stourbridge: report by Elliot Burrow
This fixture two years ago was celebrating the 100th year of Fylde’s existence, and the Woodlands had plenty to cheer about again, as their team managed to end Stourbridge’s unbeaten league record with a fine performance in the wind and rain.
Fylde made six changes to starting line-up to the side that fell to defeat against Luctonians the other week, Tom Grimes, Matt Sturgess, Matt Garrod, Harlan Corrie and Phil Mills all returning, while Joe Higgins made his starting debut at prop and Matt Ashcroft returned to the bench after recovering from injury.
They faced tough opposition today though from the visitors Stourbridge, who hadn’t lost a game so far, winning 10 from 10 and only missing out on one bonus point in the process.
The home side though hadn’t been beaten at home in the league all season, and they encountered similar conditions when they were last at home and beat Hull Ionians so they were more than prepared for what was going to be another battle of the forwards.
In conditions that could only simply be described as horrendous, and with the floodlights on full blast again, both teams were ready to put their records on the line.
Stourbridge’s ill-discipline threatened to cost them early on when they gave away back-to-back penalties, but they started to dominate the early exchanges with the strength of their forwards.
David Fairbrother was excellent early on though for his team, carrying the ball strongly from the back of the scrums and defending with his usual hard hitting style which was keeping Fylde in the early battles.
His team though started to increase the pressure on the league leaders, and Scott Rawlings earned a crucial turnover by the halfway line which allowed them and to go over for the opening try of the game moments later, when a well-placed kick through was picked up by Tom Carleton who dived on the loose ball to score.
Greg Smith couldn’t convert, but Fylde were rolling now in their usual free flowing fashion, and they crossed again when Scott Rawlings burst through the line to score, Smith missed the conversion from a tricky touchline position, but Fylde had an early 10 – 0 lead.
The home side were well and truly in control now after holding off some brief pressure at the start, but when the superb David Fairbrother was sent to the sin bin on 27 minutes, all that momentum stopped, and Fylde were made to pay, as the visitors got themselves back in the game when Steve Thorp took a quick penalty tap to score under the posts.
It was converted by Sebastien Atkinson and with Fairbrother returning just before the end of the half, Fylde managed to keep their narrow 10 – 7 lead at the interval.
A strong first-half for Fylde playing with the wind and rain, but the big question on everyone’s lips now was how would they fair playing against it.
With no improvement in the weather conditions for the second-half, it meant both teams were still locked in a battle of the forwards, and Fylde were hit with an injury blow as well, as they lost the prolific Carleton who was replaced by Ben Turner, who would soon play a major part in the game.
Matt Sturgess and Greg Smith were orchestrating their side at the rucks, getting the forwards such as Harlan Corrie, Matt Garrod, Ollie Parkinson and the man who seemed to be all over the pitch this afternoon, David Fairbrother, to take the ball in and make the hard yards, with kicking long not a viable option.
Then came the game breaking moment, a strong maul drive from Fylde allowed them to get within touching distance of the Stourbridge line, and Matt Sturgess came up with a perfectly timed kick out to the right wing to find Ben Turner in acres of space, who simply collected to score.
Smith missed from the touchline, but Fylde had increased their lead and got the all-important first score of the second-half to make it 15 – 7.
Stourbridge then lost two players to the sin bin, first winger Feyi-Waboso then replacement forward Ben O’Sullivan, as the hosts continued to search for a try to put the game out of sight.
Stour hit back with a penalty conversion on 79 minutes to give them a slight hope, but Fylde only had to put the ball out of play now to win the game. If only it was that simple.
In heart stopping circumstances, Greg Smith went to do just that to put an end to the game, and Stourbridge’s unbeaten run in the process. He was near the touchline but his lofted kick was caught by the gale. Stourbridge winger Rundle hacked the loose ball from halfway along the touchline and the speedster chased after it. He was winning the race to get the touchdown and snatch at least an equalising score in dramatic fashion but the ball beat him and trickled over the dead ball line. Smith breathed a sigh of relief alongside all of the coaching team and supporters, and the referee blew his whistle, which meant Stourbridge’s unbeaten run in the league was over, and Fylde’s home record was still intact, with the final score being Fylde 15 – 10 Stourbridge.
An important win for Fylde after last week’s disappointing away loss, and one that put them five points off new league leaders Sedgley Park. Stourbridge drop to 4th, even though they had two games in hand on the new league leaders, which meant they were likely to be back on top again at some point.
Next week Fylde make the trip to Hull, who are 2nd in the table, before rounding off 2021 with a home game back at the Woodlands on December 18th against Chester.
Fylde joint head coach Chris Briers was delighted with his side’s efforts after the game: “I’m pleased with the lads because the conditions out there were difficult to play in at times, and in the second-half there we really dug deep for each other to come up with the points.”
Speaking about the heart stopping moment at the end he said: “I could see the ball going deep towards our try line and I just remember screaming at my players to get back. Honestly, it was just a relief when the ball went over the dead ball line.”
Click here for Chris Farrow’s atmospheric action photos.
Click here for the heart stopping moment when Greg Smith’s ‘straightforward’ kick to touch to finish the game was caught in the gale and Stourbridge had the chance to equalise the scores.
Teams
Fylde: Forster; Hadfield, Carleton (Turner 40), Rawlings, Grimes; Smith, Sturgess; Higgins, Gregory, Bowker (Ashcroft 40), Parkinson, Garrod, Corrie, Mills (Partington 7), Fairbrother.
Non-playing replacements: Parker, Lanigan.
Stourbridge: Heatley; Feyi-Waboso (Moseley 65), Morgan, Riley, Rundle; Atkinson, Morgan; Thorp (McLeod 65), Lea, George, Perks (Murphy 51), Meakin (O’Sullivan 65), Smith, Mifsud (Theobald-Thomas 61), Mukarati.
Star man: David Fairbrother – He was here, he was there, he was everywhere on that pitch today. Making the hard yards going forward with some clever plays while also defending with gusto.
Game breaking moment: Ben Turner had only been on the pitch for 20 minutes, when Matt Sturgess produced a sublime kick out to his wing for him to score the try which ended up being the match winner.
Elliot Burrow