FYLDE 26 MACCLESFIELD 27
Macclesfield came to the Woodlands looking for revenge after Fylde’s gritty victory at Priory Park earlier this season, and revenge they got, beating Fylde by a single point in last few minutes of an exciting and dramatic game.
The visitors started as they meaned to go on with their first visit to 22 being a successful one. Winger Sammy Adu finished a well worked Macclesfield move in the right hand corner after only a handful of phases.
Fylde were woken up by this and hit straight back only ten minutes into the game. In what was a reoccurring theme, the Macclesfield line was tough to cut through, so the home side needed something clever, which came in the form of a clever Will Hunt chip. The fly-half’s kick bounced beautifully back into his hands and he could ease underneath the posts for a great solo try. The Danny Cassidy conversion meant Fylde were in front by 7-5.
But alas this lead would not last. Macclesfield’s big weapon was their maul, which was virtually unstoppable. This meant that when their lineout formed and turned into a drive for the line, it was very difficult to stop it. Hooker Oliver Longmore got the touchdown in the 18th minute and David Fairbrother was yellow carded for his defensive efforts. It could have been worse as the National Leagues’ top points scorer by a mile, centre Harry Oliver, missed his second conversion of the afternoon.
In the 25th minute the visitors came back for even more. As Fylde tried to clear their lines deep in the red zone, a defensive kick was charged down and a five-meter scrum ensued. Without Fairbrother at the back, Fylde’s scrum was driven at some pace back towards their own line. The scrum collapsed and a penalty try was awarded with prop Corey Bowker adjudged as the offender. He joined ‘Fairy’ on the naughty step and briefly Fylde were reduced to 13 players. This was a nightmare as now they found themselves behind by ten points at 7-17.
Not all hope was lost, as Fairbrother returned almost immediately and he gave Fylde stability and whole lot of territory. All they needed to do was begin to convert chances. In the 33rd minute Hunt produced another chip in the midfield in order to break the Macc defensive line. This time, despite being grabbed off the ball, Cassidy muscled his way to the catch and he burst over for a fine try. His conversion closed the gap to three points at 14-17 and that was how it stayed as the half-time whistle sounded.
The momentum continued into the second half, with an awesome counter-attack featuring four Fylde backs in the 44th minute. Cassidy broke the line and put things in motion, the ball was offloaded to number nine Gabe Maguire and centre Tom Forster who continued the momentum with perfect timed passes before winger Jordan Dorrington, celebrating his 150th 1st XV appearance, rounded off a perfect move. Danny Cassidy’s conversion was straightforward and, just like that, the lead was back with the home side 21-17, a lead that was held for at least another 20 minutes in a far more scrappy 2nd half.
Fylde had chances to extend but failed, which they would later come to regret. The biggest chance was certainly when Hunt broke the line (in a similar vein to Cassidy before) and a combination of a less than perfect pass and wobbly hands caused a knock-on with the Macclesfield try line and a certain try begging.
So instead of having a try cushion, just after the half an hour mark they went behind. Macclesfield found their way into the Fylde 22 but the first few phases were defended well. That was until scrum half Mason Winterburn grabbed the ball at the breakdown and launched himself at the line instead of throwing a pass. The Fylde defence was not expecting this and Winterburn had fairly easy travels for the visitor’s bonus point try. Oliver’s conversion reinstated Macc’s narrow lead at 21-24
With less than ten minutes on the clock, Fylde knew they needed another ‘something special’, which they got in the form of Will Hunt once again.
Hunt made a line break in the centre of the pitch and continued into the opposition 22. A few phases of patient play ensued but Hunt felt as though no breakthrough could be found. A cross-field kick seemed the only option to him, much to the groans of the fans and the Fylde coaches and players in the technical area in front of the stand. But all the groans turned into cheers as the perfect weighted kick found it’s way to the hands of winger Leo Gilliland who scored the bonus point earning try emphatically in the corner.
The conversion was missed but all Fylde needed to do with a 26-24 lead was hold possession and keep their discipline for the final five minutes, simple right?
But with only minutes remaining David Fairbrother, who had a brilliant game up to this point, committed a high tackle. This was enough in referee Tim Allatt’s eyes to dish out Fairbrother’s second yellow card of the afternoon.
The penalty for the offence followed, a few meters inside the Fylde half. It was a challenging yet kickable distance. It was up to none other than the National League’s top scorer Harry Oliver to win it for the visitors. It was a perfectly struck penalty and Macclesfield were sent into raptures.
The fellow north-west side had turned it around from their home loss to Fylde in September. The Fylde squad will certainly be kicking themselves after the spurned chances including a missed penalty kick in front of the posts with five minutes remaining. Hearing from some of the boys post game, they were devastated but hungry to make it up to the excellent 750 strong crowd at The Woodlands.
Fylde next visit top of the table Sheffield in an attempt to grab their first win in three games, before welcoming Scunthorpe to the Woodlands in mid February. For the remaining three home games they will need as much support as possible from the Woodlands army. Big wins are needed in the upcoming weeks if Fylde aren’t to slip further from 6th in the table, but a top 4 finish is well and truly still possible.
This reporter’s Man of the Match was Will Hunt whilst the Coaches’ choice was Tom Forster.
Click here for Chris Farrow’s excellent album of action photos.
FYLDE: 15 Cassidy; 14 Gilliland (Bowker 25, Gilliland 35), 13 Clayton (Lanigan 62), 12 Forster, 11 Dorrington; 10 Hunt, 9 Maguire; 1 Bowker (Rudkin, Bowker 68), 2 Williamson (Trippier 57), 3 King (Lewis 25), 4 Walton B (Ashcroft 57), 5 Greenwood, 6 Quinn, 7 Harrison, 8 Fairbrother.
MACCLESFIELD: 15 Shute S (Attis 51); 14 Adu (Wooton 40), 13 Blackwell, 12 Oliver H, 11 Shute I; 10 Shone, 9 Winterburn (Shute S 63); 1 Smith (Hulbert 40), 2 Longmore (Gardner 57), 3 Gardner (Percival 40), 4 Hughes, 5 Harding, 6 Townsend (Oliver J 63), 7 Laing, 8 Oliver J (Blackburn 40).
