The Blackpool Gazette’s Gavin Brown spoke to Fylde Joint Head Coach Alex Loney in midweek. [Reproduced courtesy of the Gazette]
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Fylde RFC joint-head coach Alex Loney praised his players’ collective effort following victory over Leeds Tykes last weekend. An 18-15 win at the Woodlands concluded Fylde’s home fixtures for the 2023/24 season and opened up the National Two North title race in the process.
Fylde’s victory leaves the table-topping Tykes only three points ahead of second-placed Rotherham, who have a game in hand.
“We were very happy with that,” Loney said of a win which sees Fylde in fifth, a point behind Wharfedale. “It’s obvious to say it was a massive challenge against a Leeds team who were fully in charge in the league, with the title in their hands, and who are a top side.
“We were always confident because, if we get it right, we can cope with anybody and Saturday was a good example because we got a lot of good things right.”
Inflicting only Leeds’ second defeat in 25 matches this season was notable enough, but Fylde’s defensive efforts were just as eye-catching. The Tykes had averaged almost 44 points a game from their previous 24 matches, but were restricted to two tries and a penalty.
As Loney acknowledged, the Woodlands squad couldn’t have bounced back from defeat a week earlier in better fashion. He said: “The lads did really well. We were disappointed with the week before, losing at Hull (39-36). That felt like an end-of-season game, I would say, because neither side played well or poorly; it was a to and fro game.
“Against Leeds, it was a good, tight contest that was full of momentum and key moments – and we were over the moon to keep them to 15 points as well.”
Leeds had gone into the game with 23 wins and one defeat, while Fylde’s up-and-down season was reflected in their record of 12 wins, 11 losses and a draw.
While Loney was delighted at the squad’s performance, he still admitted aspects of their display could have been better.
“The energy among the boys was really good throughout,” he explained. “There weren’t many instances where we felt the work rate was slipping; the boys were working really hard to get the possession. We also had consistency in some of the decision making, especially in the first half when we put them under a lot of pressure and were difficult to face on both sides of the ball.
“We had to work hard for every point because Leeds did well to stop us and we did the same to them. Both teams were having to be tactical in terms of where they got their points from but it was a good game played in a good atmosphere.”
The only slight annoyance in the Fylde camp is having to wait another week to try and build on their victory. This weekend is another blank one, though there is one N2N match taking place with Rotherham looking to win at Sheffield Tigers and leapfrog Leeds at the top.
Loney said: “The week off feels a bit odd when we’ve got one game to go and the boys wanted to back up last weekend. We’ve given them this week off, though the second team have a fixture and we’ll have to do training for the lads involved in that.”
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The mantle of favourites for the Championship of National Two (North) and the sole promotion place has now switched from Leeds Tykes to Rotherham Titans following events at the Woodlands last Saturday. The Titans travel to Dore Moor to play 7th placed Sheffield Tigers on Saturday, the only match in the division. It’s always a tough place to visit so Rotherham will have to be firing on all cylinders if they are to come away with a bonus point win over current leaders, the Tykes.
If they achieve this then they will top the division with a narrow 2 points advantage. It will then depend on the outcome of the final round of fixtures on Saturday, 27th April. That day Rotherham travel to Billingham and Leeds entertain Sheffield RUFC. Following Fylde’s ‘against the odds’ victory over Leeds, it is rather foolish to be confident about any prediction. It could well that the final honour goes down to the very wire at 16.45 on 27th April as the two Yorkshire neighbours battle it out.
