FYLDE 22-22 PRESTON GRASSHOPPERS: report by Will Judd
The Woodlands was treated to yet another Lancashire derby stunner as Fylde escaped a second half onslaught from the visitors for a hard-earned draw in front of a fine crowd of 1,400. This is usually the biggest crowd of the season at the Woodlands and this was no exception.
The first half was the Fylde show, with early dominance resulting in points, and plenty of them. However, the Fylde Coaches had to make a late change in the line-up when replacement prop Chris Rudkin was injured in the warm-up and young hooker James Sutcliffe took his place.
The visitors weren’t helped by the sinbinning of giant lock Ellis Causey in the 12th minute. Immediately afterwards Fylde fly-half Will Hunt bagged the first try for the home side as they moved deep into Hoppers’ half of the pitch. After a few phases in the opposition’s 22, Hunt closed off his body with a neat step and ran over the line between the posts, then converted by Danny Cassidy, for a deserved seven points.
On the 20th minute mark the lead was doubled when talisman David Fairbrother produced his trademark tap-and-go penalty that stunned the Hoppers defence, leaving a clear line for the number 8 to romp over. Another sweet Danny Cassidy conversion gave Fylde 14 unanswered points.
14 became 19 on the brink of halftime when Fylde worked their way up the field again. Hunt’s 50/22 kick was brilliant and the home side edged closer to the try line. Movement seemed to slow slightly until a delayed pass, dummy and subsequent lovely step from winger Ben Turner fooled the line of defence for what amazingly would turn out to be Fylde’s last try of the game.
As the 2nd half began, it was as if two completely different teams had taken the field. From out of nowhere it was Preston Grasshoppers with complete control of the ball with player-coach Danny Maher and replacement scrum-half Rory Brand making game changing differences.
So, after lock Ben Walton received a yellow card five minutes into the half for a high tackle, none other than former Fylde player Maher shepherded over an unstoppable Hoppers scrum-maul. No conversion, but the points were beginning to mount. In sport as in life, momentum can be so crucial and Hoppers now had this in spades.
Five minutes later and the visitors were in again. Fylde lost the ball in the middle of the park and a smart counterattack resulted in Hoppers fly-half Ed Keohan lobbing the ball over to the right-hand wing where Jack Roberts strolled over the line.
Fylde were briefly back to 15 men, but only for what felt like a handful of seconds as Fairbrother was this time sent packing for a dangerous and rather unnecessary clear-out.
The game was fading for Fylde, and fast, which wasn’t helped when Hoppers bagged their third try in the 58th minute after some romping ball in hand phases that pushed the home side ever further back. Rory Brand was the eventual scorer between the posts. It looked like the score would be 19-17 after the conversion in front of the posts but extraordinarily the shot blazed off the crossbar, costing two points that would end up haunting Hoppers.
After that lifeline Fylde knew they needed to take any points the could get, so when the opportunity for three points came around in the 75th minute as Hoppers were penalised, Hoppers centre Billy Glover was sent to the sinbin as a result. Cassidy jumped at the opportunity in front of the posts for a 22-15 lead. This meant the visitors would need a converted try to draw the game.
The Woodlands was ablaze with noise from both the home and visiting fans, who in particular were showing immense support.
Preston Grasshoppers threw the kitchen sink at the Fylde defence in the last few minutes of the game and set up an intense finale in Fylde’s 22.
Lineout mauls and drives to the line became Hopper’s main outlet and Fylde began to crumble, leading to ill discipline and sheer desperation. The writing was on the wall after both winger Leo Gilliland and then centre Tom Forster were binned within a minute of each other and Fylde could do little to restrict the mauling tactic with two less players.
So in the final play of the game Hoppers big driving maul stormed over the line with Danny Maher again at the bottom of the pile of players. This left full back Sam Freeman to secure the draw and he converted nervelessly. So with Hopper’s first and only conversion he made it 22-22, bringing an end to yet another local derby classic which had it all.
Fylde will be bitterly disappointed having squandered a 19-point lead, but relief will also be in the air considering how little they were in the game in the second 40. Hoppers earned a 4-try bonus point and so took three league points from their afternoon’s work whereas Fylde’s haul was two. The selected Men of the Match were Toby Harrison (Fylde) and Sam Kyle-Clay (Hoppers) – well done both!
The dropped points mean the Woodlanders go to 6th in the National 2 North division, only two places above Preston Grasshoppers at the end of 2025, albeit with a gap of 18 points between the clubs.
Click here for Chris Farrow’s splendid album of action photos.
FYLDE: Turner (Clayton 69); Galliland, Cassidy, Forster, Lanigan (Quinn 49); Hunt, Maguire; Bowker, Trippier (Sutcliffe 31, Trippier 58), Lewis (King 31, Lewis 58), Walton B (Lanigan 58), Greenwood (Ashcroft 10), Walton M, Harrison, Fairbrother.
PRESTON GRASSHOPPERS: Freeman; Roberts, Glover, Russell, Maher Z; Keohane (Singleton 78), Singleton (Brand 40); Parkinson (Maher D 40), Kyle-Clay, Corless (Boylan 75), Naylor, Causey, Norrington (Causey H 58), Holden (Richardson 40), Ailes.
