Fylde v Huddersfield: report, video and photo coverage

Fylde vs Huddersfield Match Report 15.1.22 by Elliot Burrow

New year, but it was the same old Fylde from the end of 2021, as they picked up their 8th home league win of the season and made it two from two in 2022.

It was a chilly day down at The Woodlands, but more importantly it was a dry one, which was very hard to come by towards the end of 2021.

An important away win over Loughborough last week showed that they were more than ready to fight for that promotion race after taking an early 19 – 0 lead before holding on to see the game out 32 – 28 and move up to 4th in the table.

Huddersfield pushed the home side close when the two sides met earlier on in the season, Fylde in the end getting the job done 22 – 15 and a similar close score line was expected again for this return fixture.

The visitors also made a winning start to the new year when they beat bottom side Blaydon 35 – 19, but it was only their fourth win of the campaign and they sat in 14th position in the league table with only Harrogate sitting between them and that Blaydon team.

The coaches made one change to the starting line-up, with Scott Rawlings not recovering from a knock he picked up in the Loughborough game, so in came Joe Bedlow who joined the club earlier on in the week on dual registration from Sale Sharks.

A familiar surname for those at The Woodlands, with older brother Sam making 24 first team appearances during his stint at the club from 2014-2017, before going on to now represent Bristol Bears in the Premiership.

Ben Turner also returned to the bench in the only other change for Fylde, as they went in search of putting another bonus point victory on the board.

From the kick-off Fylde knocked on, but Joe Bedlow wasted no time in getting involved in a Fylde shirt when he produced a crunching tackle on a Huddersfield player to set the tone for the game.

There was little to separate the two teams early on, and the visitors thought they had scored when a driving maul from a line-out saw them power over the line only for the ball to be held up by a Fylde defender.

It seemed to be the wakeup call that Fylde needed though, when they produced a driving maul of their own close to the Huddersfield line, David Fairbrother made no mistake in putting the ball down to get the home side up and running, with Greg Smith converting to make it 7 – 0.
Huddersfield were dominating possession but just couldn’t find their way through a Fylde defence which was standing strong to what was being thrown at them.

Joe Potter tried to put his side on the board with a penalty kick with 28 minutes gone, but he missed, and Fylde punished them, with Harlan Corrie going over from the back of the ruck to extend their advantage, Smith converting again.

A brilliant sweeping move from Fylde’s backs then opened up the Huddersfield defence only for the ball to then go to ground, and that pretty much summed up the first-half for the hosts who hadn’t really hit top gear yet but had the all-important 14 – 0 lead at the interval.

The second-half got off to a flier for Fylde, when Joe Bedlow sent Tom Carleton through the line who found Hadfield who then found Tom Grimes who walked in at the corner to score.
Smith couldn’t convert from the touchline and the visitors then hit back when Ross Thornton powered over from close range to give Huddersfield a try that they had more than deserved to reduce Fylde’s lead to 19 – 5.

A brief game of tug of war between the two sides then ensued, with neither taking full control, but when a Fylde attack looked like it had broken down close to the Huddersfield line, Henry Hadfield picked up the pieces and darted over to score in the corner and put his team back in control.

Smith missed the conversion but Fylde were back in control, and Joe Bedlow intercepted a long pass from Huddersfield on 71 minutes to go over for a debut try which was converted by Ben Gregory.

Joe was following in brother Sam’s footsteps in representing Fylde as previously mentioned, and he wasn’t to be out done by his older brother, who also scored on his debut for the club back in 2014.

Matt Garrod then rounded off the scoring for the hosts with Gregory stepping up to convert, to make the final score Fylde 38 – 5 Huddersfield.

Winning head coach Alex Loney was happy with how his side performed, particularly in that second-half, saying: “It was a tough game, Huddersfield came out fast and were looking to try and outsmart us and at half-time we just had to regroup.

“We created enough chances though in the second-half to go on and make sure we got the win.”

On how he thought debutant Joe Bedlow performed he said: “I thought he was really good. He was obviously a player that we were aware of, particularly Chris who coached him as an under 18, and he did well. He was physical, he was dynamic in the way he was carrying the ball, and he worked hard overall.”

Fylde’s next game is an away trip to Harrogate, before returning home for a game which could have a big say on how the top of the table looks at the end of the season.

They welcome Rotherham on the 29th January, who are unbeaten in the league so far, and it should prove another strong test for Fylde’s unbeaten home league record which is now a perfect eight from eight this season.

Teams

Fylde: Forster, Hadfield, Carleton, Bedlow, Grimes, Smith, Sturgess, Kyle-Clay, Gregory, Ashcroft, Parkinson, Garrod, Corrie, O’Ryan, Fairbrother.
Replacements: Bowker, Higgins, Blake, Turner, Lanigan.

Huddersfield: Hodson, Stewart, Workman, Law, Catleugh, Potter, Mason, Thompson, Thornton, Rollins, Pearson, Sharpe, Stapley, Parfitt, Brown.
Replacements: Brook, Bradley, Davis, Brook, Milner.

Star Man: Olli Parkinson – A consistent performer throughout the season so far, rarely putting a foot wrong and was once again there to do the hard yards and back it up with some excellent work in defence.

Game breaking moment: Henry Hadfield’s try to put Fylde 24 – 5 in front saw off any chance of a Huddersfield comeback, as he finished off what seemed to be a move which had broken down to out his side back in control of the match.