Otley 28 v Fylde 27: match report by Simon Taylor
Fylde’s seven game winning run ended as they suffered only their second defeat of the season away at fourth placed Otley. In doing so they conceded top spot in the table back to Sedgley Park, who maintained their 100% record with their sixteenth consecutive win away at Sheffield Tigers and now lead Fylde by one league point, with a game in hand.
Otley have had a fine first season back at this level after being promoted last year, losing only three games. This was a rearranged game due to a weather postponement, with 10 games left Fylde still had to play Otley twice, and they knew the fixture would be a tricky one, with eight of Otley’s previous games being won or lost by less than seven points. After a bright start when Fylde raced into a 12-3 lead after 15 minutes, Otley asserted themselves and caused Fylde real problems, with Fylde, for once, showing frailties in an over-porous defence as they struggled to stem the tide of the determined and robust Otley ball carriers.
A fourth try for Fylde in the very last move of game meant they travelled home with two precious bonus points when it looked like they might come away with nothing. Those points may yet prove to be very important in the final knockings, but nobody could deny Otley were full value for their win, and their full 5 league points, with four well worked tries of their own.
A decent and vociferous crowd was packed in the old wooden stand, which, strangely enough, was purchased many years ago from Fylde’s local rivals Preston Grasshoppers and transported to Yorkshire in sections by horse and cart, at least, that is what your reporter was told by the Otley officials at the pre-match meal. Fylde were out of the blocks quickly, Adam Lanigan chasing a kick well to force the first penalty and give Fylde possession in the Otley 22. With the defence up flat Greg Smith’s deft grubber in behind was perfect and skipper Ben Gregory followed up to get the opening try, goaled by Smith for a 7-0 lead in only the second minute.
An early blood bin for Toby Harrison saw Charlie Partington on for a brief spell and there followed a frantic few minutes with both sides being penalised and warned for high tackles. From the last of these Otley’s Joe Rowntree kicked a fine penalty from near halfway to open Otley’s account and make the score 7-3.
Another high tackle penalty, this time by Otley, allowed Smith to nudge Fylde close to the Otley line again. Gregory hit Harlan Corrie for a well-set catch and drive line-out. Otley defended this well, but Cole Potts recycled quickly to hit Sam Stott on a powerful flat line close to the whitewash and there was no stopping him for what is becoming a signature move score. Smith’s conversion drifted wide but after 15 minutes Fylde had edged further ahead at 12-3.
From the re-start Otley made a powerful long range bust through the midfield and deep into Fylde territory, in truth something they were to do with too much ease throughout the game, meaning Fylde were often scrambling in defence and forced into conceding penalties too often. Sustained pressure resulted in an overlap for Otley’s full back Callum Irvine to dive into the corner for an unconverted try in the 21st minute, bringing the score back to 12-8 to Fylde. Otley’s belief grew and they started to stretch Fylde’s defence, also earning scrum penalties as their front row got on top.
From one scrum on Fylde’s try line, Dave Fairbrother managed to pick up under pressure and feed Sam Stott, who broke out on a 50-yard bust to give Fylde some relief. Fylde managed to keep an ever-hungrier Otley at bay and maintain their slender lead until the half time break.
Scott Rawlings replaced Adam Lanigan at the break with Connor Wilkinson moving to full back and Jordan Dorrington to the wing. Patreece Bell replaced Matt Ashcroft at prop with Zach Barrow on for Corey Bowker to try to shore up the scrum set piece. Otley started the second half as they had left off and Fylde were struggling to get out of their own half. Another long-range defence splitting bust in midfield in the 47th minute saw Fylde in disarray and at the breakdown Connor Wilkinson was yellow carded.
Otley chose the scrum and with another penalty advantage in the bag they spun the ball wide left taking immediate advantage of Fylde being one man down in the back line, winger Elliot Morgan diving in for a try to put Otley in front for the first time at 13-12. The yellow card period was to prove costly for Fylde as Otley increased their lead on 55 minutes. Their big number 6 Dan Preston-Routledge, who had an excellent game, found a sizeable gap 20 yards out and his pace and strength took him over close to the post for try that was improved by Rowntree, Otley now two scores clear at 20-12 up.
Fylde dug deep to force some pressure of their own. A lovely pick and go from ruck ball by Dave Fairbrother created a good chance that Otley managed to snuff out. Wilkinson was back on when Fylde were handed the man advantage themselves on the hour mark. Ben Turner fielded the high ball and ran it back only to be dumped in an awkward position in the tackle by Otley replacement Clark Wells. Having only just joined the battle, Wells was instructed to take a 10-minute break by young referee George Ounsley, who showed promising game management qualities. Not long after the yellow card Greg Smith knocked over a simple penalty to bring Fylde back within a score at 20-15.
Despite still being down to 14 men, Otley were still able to control much of the game, aided by some inaccuracies by Fylde. Otley were targeting the ball carriers and looking to rip in the tackle, and some looseness in the carry was giving them success as they forced knock-ons, a tactic that worked well for them given they had the Fylde scrum under pressure still. Fylde were pinned back again and on 64 minutes their other winger Sam Taylor forced himself over for another try in the left corner, unconverted but Otley again had a two-score cushion at 25-15.
Fylde may not have been on their game, but they can always produce moments of magic even in difficult situations and they did so again as they responded with a fine try just 2 minutes later. Greg Smith took the ball to the line, dummied the pass, and ghosted through himself, drawing the full back before putting scrum half Cole Potts in for a 20-yard scamper to the line. Crucially, too much time was taken over the conversion and it was charged down, a rare event at this level. Fylde were, however, back in it at 25-20.
Otley again imposed themselves, forcing a goal line drop out, from which their drop goal attempt drifted just wide. The 22 yard drop out was then returned with interest with another long-range surge by the Otley number eight and a high tackle gave Rowntree an easy penalty kick which he knocked over to yet again put Otley two scores ahead at 28-20 after 72 minutes.
Fylde knuckled down in the last 5 minutes as they launched a last attempt to salvage something from a game they had struggled in, not wanting to make the trip home empty handed. They stretched the home defence and finally created one last chance, although even that, perhaps fittingly, came from an inaccuracy. The long pass missed it’s intended target, but as so often happens, it worked well as the defence jumped up, the ball made its way to big second row Olli Parkinson, lurking on the wing. He gathered the bouncing ball well, bumped off a heavy challenge by the last defender and dived over for Fylde’s fourth try. The conversion mattered not, but Smith knocked it over in any case, and with no time to re-start, Otley quite rightly celebrated an excellent performance and 28-27 win, with Fylde at least being able to console themselves with 2 losing bonus points despite being disappointed with the overall result.
Coach Alex Loney commented. “We are obviously massively disappointed to lose today. Fair play to Otley, they played some good stuff with a strong forward effort in the set piece and good width on the game which caused us problems. We knew it would be a tough game and unfortunately, we just weren’t good enough today. The players deserve a lot of respect for what they have done this year with some fantastic performances, but we came up short today. We’ve got to make sure we are better next week for a huge local derby with Hoppers and then the two away games with Wharfedale and Tynedale.”
Click here for video coverage of Fylde’s four tries.
Fylde: Dorrington, Turner, Wilkinson, Stott, Lanigan (Rawlings 40), Smith, Potts, Bowker (Barrow 50), Gregory (Captain), Ashcroft (Bell 40), Parkinson, Corrie, Harrison (Partington 6/Harrison 12), Higginson, Fairbrother. Unused replacement: Tom Forster
Otley: Irvine, Taylor, Stead (Wells), Morgan C, Morgan E, Crossland, Rowntree, Thiart (Nicholls), Cole (Gibson), Ward (Dixon), Malthouse, Mitchell (Carpenter), Preston-Routledge, Hodge, Waddington