Billingham 27 v Fylde 24: match report by Simon Taylor
Fylde’s winless run stretched to 5 games as they suffered their fourth straight defeat in 2026. It was déjà vu from a fortnight previously against Macclesfield, as Fylde conceded a 76th penalty near their own 10-yard line, which Luke Wilson nervelessly knocked over to give Billingham the lead back for the first time since half time. This completed a comeback from 24-12 down after 55 minutes to the delight of the home supporters. Fylde returned home with another 2 losing bonus points but were left rueing some key moments in the game that made all the difference in the final analysis.
With a full 15 missing through injuries and unavailability, Fylde shuffled the deck once more. They welcomed back Matt Garrod for the first time in nearly a year and handed Dan Slawson his competitive first XV debut in the number 10 shirt. With both Walton brothers unavailable to face their previous club, Greg Morgan started in the second row. Notable landmarks were achieved by two standout warriors in the Fylde shirt as skipper Tobby Harrison made his 100th appearance with Dave Fairbrother trumping him as he hit an impressive 200. Fairy will hopefully forgive me for pointing out that Harrison has plenty of years left in the tank in which to catch him up.
Having received the ball from the kick off Fylde kicked deep only for Billingham to return with interest and set up the phases. With penalty advantage being played a cross-field kick found its way into left winger Joe Scarborough’s hands, and he bumped off two would be tacklers and raced into the corner. Luke Wilson’s lovely conversion from wide out gave Billingham an early 7-0 lead. Despite the inauspicious start Fylde felt their way into the game and created pressure. A fine line break by Danny Casssidy created a chance but the final pass went to ground. Fylde maintained pressure with strong carrying from Morgan and Fairbrother and then made a mess of an attempted exit near the home try line, earning a scrum. From this the ball was fed to Jordan Dorrington who ran a hard line, jinked the first man and bounced through the second one to score near the posts, making Cassidy’s conversion a formality, 7 apiece after 24 minutes.
Fylde were now gelling well and playing good rugby before an error led to the home team re-taking the lead on 33 minutes. A penalty to Fylde was kicked deep and Matt Garrod showed what Fylde have been missing in his absence with good clean ball off the top. A set move in the back line went awry with the ball spilled, Billingham’s scrum half Jamie Lane fly-hacked the ball downfield and showed his pace to kick ahead again and win the race to touch down, conversion missed but Billingham had the lead back at 12-7.
Fylde settled into their rhythm again and made possession count right just before the break. A knock on had halted Fylde’s flow but props Corey Bowker and Chris Rudkin supported by their pack brethren forced a scrum penalty. Slawson’s line kicking was top notch all day and he gave Fylde the line out close in. Hooker Rob Williamson hit skipper Toby Harrison, joined the catch and drive from the back and was last man up as it rumbled over for the try. Cassidy converted and Fylde marched off 14-12 in front.
Fylde have often struggled to start the second half of matches well but changed that dynamic this week. Slawson’s pin-point restart was tapped back by Garrod to winger Adam Lanigan who weaved his way into the home defence earning a high tackle penalty. From the resulting kick and line out Fylde prodded and probed with Ben Gould sniping and feeding his runners until enough space was created wide right for Greg Morgan to muscle over. The conversion was missed but Fylde were 19-12 up.
Fylde now had their dander up and accurate, high tempo play stressed and strained the Billingham defence. On 53 minutes Slawson kicked another penalty close to the Billingham line, Williamson hit
Garrod again and this time double centurion Fairbrother elbowed Williamson out of the way to be the try scorer as Billingham could do nothing to stop a second catch and drive try. The conversion went wide again but Fylde had built up a decent 24-12 lead.
Fylde made their first change as Rob King replaced Rudkin and Billingham forced their first meaningful possession of the half, making it count as a lapse of concentration in the wide out defence allowed nippy winger Scarborough too easy a run in for his second try. The missed conversion meant Fylde still held a 7-point lead at 24-17.
Around the hour mark there were a pivotal few minutes and two key incidents. First, Matt Ashcroft was forced from the field with a facial injury, replaced by Max Senior. Fylde felt this was due to an off the ball incident missed by the officials. This led to some over robust Fylde defending which was more visible to the officials, and Matt Garrod was yellow carded. Fylde’s sense of injustice was deepened, and the defence became more desperate as Billingham enjoyed 10 minutes of possession and territory while a man to the good. Fylde scrambled well but the pressure and penalties told on 67 minutes when second row Anthony Jackson powered over near the posts, Wilson converted and the scores were locked up at 24 all.
Another key moment went against Fylde on 70 minutes. Having wrestled back the initiative it looked like space had been created for Harrison to dive in at the corner. Unfortunately, the desperate last-ditch defence forced his foot in touch as he went over and to make matters worse, he suffered an impact injury in the process and could take no further part. With the yellow card reversed Ben Dorrington replaced Garrod, Sam Parker replaced Williamson and Ashcroft was back on for Harrison.
The last 10 minutes was all about who could make a decisive moment tell. Billingham found a gap for a break from deep and with Fylde scrambling again, a support runner was tackled off the ball, easy penalty to give. Wilson showed his nerve to slot the kick and, not for the first time this season, Fylde had just a few minutes to find a score to draw or win. They have managed this several times, but not this time, as Billingham showed their nous to negate Fylde’s final flurry, regain possession and see the game out.
With so many regulars missing this was, in many ways, a fine effort, and 2 bonus points were very much deserved. However, having held a 12-point lead with nearly an hour gone, Fylde will feel it was another potential W that got away from them. Billingham are improving every season since their promotion and already have their best league points tally with 8 games left and found a way for a good comeback win.
Coach Alex Loney said: ‘We are disappointed not to have won. Having said that, Billingham, came with lots of fire, effort and intent, especially late in the second half when they managed to shift the momentum.
We had a great start in the second half until an off the ball incident seemed to affect us emotionally, and that is something we must learn, how to manage these moments in matches. A big shout out to Toby and Fairy on their respective 100th and 200th appearances, to Matt Garrod on his long-awaited return, and Dan Slawson on a solid debut showing he can fit in at this level. Also, it was good to welcome back some players who hadn’t been in the squad for a while, Max Senior, Ben Dorrington and Alex Gaughan. We are on a tough run of close defeats and are missing a lot of players, but we have quality and strength in depth and can’t fault the effort. Next week against Scunthorpe we will look for a more complete performance and look to manage these big moments in games better to avoid key momentum shifts.’
Fylde: Turner, Lanigan, Cassidy, Dorrington J, Gilliland, Slawson, Gould, Fairbrother, Harrison (Captain/Ashcroft 70/Rudkin 74), Ashcroft (Senior 57), Garrod (Dorrington B 70), Morgan, Rudkin (King 54), Williamson (Parker 70), Bowker
Unused sub: Gaughan
Billingham: Rickard, Kirby (Plews 74), Evans J (Mayes 57), Wilson, Scarborough, Evans P, Lane, Jackson, Campbell, Burns, Armstrong (Myers 44), Hill, Clark (Brown 31/Clark 54), Hyndman, Dixon (Headlam 31/Dixon 54)
