Chester 20 v Fylde 20: report by Simon Taylor
Fylde showed their battling spirit to fight back for a share of the spoils as they achieved their first draw of the season in their last away trip of the 2021-22 campaign. Greg Smith stepped up to kick a 75th minute penalty to tie a tit for tat contest, no mean feat considering Fylde were down to 13 men at the time due to having two players off the field for disciplinary reasons. A game that was more frenetic than fluent had seen both teams struggle to impose themselves on the other for any concerted period. This produced a spectacle that was at times exciting but also frustrating for the supporters of both teams, and no doubt the coaching staff. In the end a draw was a fair result, neither team deserving to lose but also neither producing enough quality to deserve the win.
Fylde’s preparations were hampered by injury, illness and unavailability. With Tom Carleton and Harlan Corrie unavailable, Ben Turner slotted in at full back and Charlie Partington in the back row. A late change saw Adam Lanigan get a start, again out of position on the wing, as Henry Hadfield was forced to miss out with an ankle problem. Added to this captain Ben Gregory somehow managed to make the starting line-up despite being in hospital a few days earlier with a severe tonsil infection that required a surgical procedure. Gregory has started every game this season and it was a sterling effort to keep that run going and last for as long as he did in the game.
A dry, sunny blustery day saw Fylde cheered on by yet again a sizeable travelling following, the 4G pitch providing an excellent playing surface. Chester have always been committed and competitive opponents and they dominated the first 15 minutes, pinning Fylde in their own 22 and forcing two goal line drop-outs. The Fylde defence held firm and they then produced a moment of class with their first real possession. A lovely line-out catch by Olli Parkinson, who had a fine game, was moved quickly along the back line. Adam Lanigan came in off his wing with a gorgeous arcing running line and put Tom Grimes clear for his umpteenth try of the season. Greg Smith failed to convert but Fylde were 5-0 up against the run of play.
Fylde’s cause was helped shortly after the re-start when Chester’s Wade Ward was yellow carded for tackling Matt Sturgess well within the 10 yards as he took a quick tap penalty. Sadly, for Fylde they then produced a very sloppy 10-minute spell resulting in a penalty close to their own line and a yellow card of their own. Matt Garrod was sin-binned for pulling down the maul just as the Chester yellow was reversed and Chester made it count immediately as hooker Scott Robson was smuggled over from the catch and drive line out for an unconverted try and the scores were level at 5 apiece. Fylde’s struggles for fluency continued and right on half-time they were made to pay again as a lovely cross field kick was collected by full back Gethin Long who cut inside easily to touch down. The kick went astray again but Chester took a 10-5 lead into the break.
Coaches Alex Loney and Chris Briers made changes at half time with Alex Clayton and Marcus Blake on for Tom Forster and Ben O’Ryan, Forster having taken a heavy knock in a tackle just before the break. Fylde started the half in much better shape and put some sustained, controlled phases of possession together. They stretched the home defence leaving a gap out wide on 44 minutes and Dave Fairbrother’s deft overhead off-load put Scott Rawlings in for a well-worked try. The sequence of missed kicks by both sides continued with another conversion going wide but Fylde were level again at 10-10.
Fylde made front row changes shortly after with Adam Lewis and Sam Kyle-Clay on to replace Zach Barrow and Matt Ashcroft, both having put their usual solid shifts in. Both teams now sought to gain the initiative with Chester looking to control possession and Fylde looking to up the tempo and run from deep. Scott Rawling won an excellent turnover penalty, tapped and spun the ball wide. Tom Grimes chipped over the top and narrowly missed out as Chester scrambled and got the ball away. Back came Fylde and on 63 minutes Alex Clayton produced a lovely pump-fake delayed pass drawing the Chester defender out of the line to create enough space for Ben Turner to coast over. Greg Smith finally found his range with a lovely conversion from wide out and Fylde were ahead 17-10.
From being in a seemingly strong position Fylde now had an almost disastrous 10 minutes that could have lost them the game. Both teams had been using the quick tap and go at midfield penalties and Chester did so again on 67 minutes. The Chester scrum half was tackled after only running a few yards by Matt Garrod. Having yellow carded a Chester player in the first half for the same offence there was only going to be one outcome and Garrod was shown a yellow as well, and with it being his second of the day it was upgraded to the inevitable red. Tom Scott kicked the penalty to close the gap to 17-13 and just 2 minutes later Adam Lanigan was trotting off to the sin-bin as well when he was adjudged to have deliberately knocked-on when attempting the intercept. From the penalty Chester kicked for touch, set up the driving maul and Josh Woods powered over for a try, converted by Tom Scott.
From being 17-10 up Fylde were now 20-17 down and in serious trouble and all sorts of disarray as they would be 13 playing 15 for all but the last few seconds of the game. To their immense credit, and similar to the Stourbridge match a few weeks earlier, Fylde regained their composure and set about winning and keeping the ball to engineer a chance to salvage something from the game. Multiple phases of hard running with support players in attendance inched them up the pitch. Kyle-Clay, Lewis, Rawlings, Fairbrother and Clayton, in particular were working tirelessly to gain the hard yards, but it was a 13 man all round effort, every player knowing possession was crucial and there might only be one chance at another score being so numerically disadvantaged.
The chance came on 75 minutes when Fylde’s patience and accuracy forced 3 penalties in a row. The last of these was in kicking range and Greg Smith was ice cool under pressure to bisect the posts and restore parity once more at 20 points apiece. Ben Gregory finally and understandably ran out of steam and was replaced by the promising youngster Sam Parker. Both teams then sought to get field position and an opportunity to win the game in a nervy last 5 minutes, however the respective defences held firm and the final whistle saw each team pick up a very creditable two league points, a fair outcome overall. Whilst there may have been periods lacking in quality there was certainly no lack of effort and endeavour. Chester is a fine club, another fixture Fylde have always enjoyed and which will be a shame to lose if, as it seems will happen, they are to be moved out of the Northern division in the league restructuring.
Dave Fairbrother was yet again named Fylde’s man of the match by Chester, having put in his usual all-round top-quality display. Fylde have won 20, drawn 1 and lost 8 games, they also passed 1,000 points scored for the season at Chester. They sit fifth in the table and are pretty much guaranteed to finish there with one game left. Coach Chris Briers admitted that Fylde had not been able to hit the sustained level of quality and accuracy he would have liked to have seen but he was highly satisfied with their spirit and efforts to come back for a draw despite being down to 13 men. Fylde are at home to Tynedale next Saturday in their last game of the season where Briers and Loney will look for their team to end the season in style and treat the home fans to one last game of free-flowing rugby before the summer break.
Teams:
Chester: Long, Roberts, Ivory, Scott, Craven, Malik, Phillips (Holloway), Woods (Furnival), Robson, Williams (Baxter), Wilkinson, Lloyd (Spalding), Ford, Brearey, Farrar (Reed)
Fylde: Turner, Lanigan, Forster (Clayton), Rawlings, Grimes, Smith, Sturgess, Barrow (Kyle-Clay), Gregory (Parker), Ashcroft (Lewis), Parkinson, Garrod, O’Ryan (Blake), Partington, Fairbrother
