Fylde 0-38 Sedgley Park: report by Elliot Burrow
Storm Dudley and Storm Eunice might have battered the Fylde coastline all week, but it was Storm Sedgley that caused the most damage, as the visitors put in a superb performance from start to finish to end Fylde’s unbeaten home record in the league this season.
The game was in serious doubt as kick-off approached, with puddles of water still visible on the pitch, but thanks to the hard work of some of the Fylde ground staff, which included chairman Matt Filipo, and Sedgley helpers, the team of officials agreed the match could go ahead with a rescheduled start time of 3:30pm.
Coaches Alex Loney and Chris Briers made four changes to the starting line-up that was victorious against Wharfdale the other week – Tom Grimes, Adam Lanigan, Zach Barrow and Corey Bowker all came into the side, with Scott Rawlings serving the first of his three game suspension, Greg Smith was unavailable, whilst Sam Kyle-Clay and Matt Ashcroft swapped places with Barrow and Bowker on the bench.
Alex Clayton made it into the team for the first time in his Fylde career on the bench after impressing in the Hawks’ team, while Charlie Partington also returned after missing the 20 – 10 away win at Threshfield.
The opposition Sedgley Park had only lost one game since the turn of the year, Rotherham edging them out 13 – 12, but they came into this fixture looking to be the first team this campaign to complete a league double over Fylde, after having beaten them earlier on in the season 37 – 22 at their place.
With the puddles cleared off the pitch, and the sunshine now making an appearance, everything was set and good to go as the two teams came out of the tunnel, and Fylde kicked us off and got us underway.
Fylde made a nervy start to the game, with passes going astray, but their defence was strong, with Sedgley playmaker Stephen Collins being on the receiving end of three big tackles early on.
They then created the first real chance of the game when Ben Turner returned a kick from deep, and raced through a gap before finding Tom Carleton, who produced a kick ahead which he ended up recollecting, before he was eventually brought down just short of the Sedgley line, where the attack then broke down.
Apart from that brief moment, it was Sedgley that were looking dangerous in the early exchanges, and they opened the scoring with a driving maul from a lineout, where top try scorer in the league Matt Gallagher picked it up from the back to score.
Stephen Collins couldn’t convert, but the visitors were dominating possession and territory now, and scored again moments later, when Andrew Riley broke clear up the wing and produced a chip kick over the top for Jamie Harrison who dived on the loose ball to cross.
Collins missed the conversion again, but Sedgley had raced into a 10 – 0 with only 17 minutes gone on the clock.
Things weren’t going to plan for the hosts, Joe Bedlow left the pitch with a shoulder injury, and they were struggling to put any fluent moves together, something they are usually so devastatingly good at.
It was one way traffic, and Sedgley’s rolling maul was causing Fylde all sorts of problems, with Matt Gallagher latching onto the back of another one to go over for his second of the game, Collins converted with no problems this time.
The home side hadn’t lost on their own soil so far this season, but that record was under serious threat from this Sedgley side, who were playing with such confidence, with Stephen Collins dusting himself down from some of those early hits, and marshalling them around the pitch.
They scored the try of the match right on the stroke of half-time when a superb inside ball sliced open the Fylde defence, and found Rhys Henderson who raced clear to cross, and a Collins conversion meant they had a 24 – 0 lead going into the break.
It was going to take something special for Fylde to mount a comeback and despite Carleton and Sturgess both making breaks through the Sedgley defence, they couldn’t find their way over the try line.
Sedgley on the other hand were having no issue with that, as Robert Birtwell charged down a Tom Carleton kick to collect and score to put the game well and truly out of sight, if it hadn’t already been by their excellent first-half performance.
Gallagher made it three from three when he crossed off the back of another powerful Sedgley rolling maul, before Fylde were reduced to 14 men when Matthew Garrod was sin binned for a high tackle.
There was no further scores in the game, meaning it finished Fylde 0 – 38 Sedgley, and with that Sedgley had ended Fylde’s unbeaten league run with a superb performance from start to finish.
It was a tough blow for Fylde to take, who had been in good form so far in 2022, especially after they beat a very good Rotherham side last time they were at The Woodlands.
They never seemed to be at the top of their game at any point during the 80 minutes, and the result did show that, but credit still has to go to Sedgley who put all their preparation through the week to good use and it showed out there on the pitch.
The loss did mean that Fylde slipped to 5th in the table, and they faced a tough away trip to Bournville next week, before returning home on March 5 to take on Blaydon.
Click here for Chris Farrow’s portfolio of action photographs.
Teams
Fylde: Turner, Hadfield, Carleton, Bedlow (Forster 19), Grimes, Sturgess, Lanigan (Clayton 66), Barrow (Kyle-Clay 50), Gregory, Bowker (Ashcroft 50), Parkinson, Garrod, Corrie, O’Ryan (Partington 55), Fairbrother.
Sedgley: Riley A, Henderson, Glasse, Riley M, Harrison (Tansey 70), Collins, Openshaw (Crampton 61), Chilvers (Downham 71), Gallagher, Blanchard, Birtwell, Crowe O (Woolfenden 70), James, Goodman, Lees (Crowe E 61).
Game breaking moment: Rhys Henderson’s try on the stroke of half-time all but sealed Sedgley’s victory, as a lovely inside ball sliced open the Fylde defence and allowed him to stroll in to score.
Star man: Matt Gallagher (Sedgley) – Gallagher is top try scorer in the league for a reason, and he boosted his credentials once more with a hat-trick to add to his tally so far this season and push his side up to 3rd in the table.
