Fylde RFC 0 Sedgley Park 38: Unbeaten home run is ended emphatically

The game had been in serious doubt as kick-off approached, with puddles of water still visible on the pitch, but hard work from Fylde ground staff, including chairman Matt Filipo, and Sedgley helpers meant a rescheduled start time of 3.30pm.

Fylde coaches Alex Loney and Chris Briers made four changes to the starting line-up from the win against Wharfedale.

Tom Grimes, Adam Lanigan, Zach Barrow and Corey Bowker all came in with Scott Rawlings serving the first of his three-game suspension and Greg Smith unavailable, while Sam Kyle-Clay and Matt Ashcroft swapped places with Barrow and Bowker on the bench after 50 minutes.

Sedgley Park had only lost one game since the turn of the year, Rotherham edging them out 13-12, but they went into this fixture looking to complete a league double over Fylde for this season.

With the puddles cleared off the pitch and the sunshine now making an appearance, Fylde kicked off but made a nervy start to the game with passes going astray.

However, their defence was strong with Sedgley playmaker Stephen Collins on the receiving end of three big tackles early on.

It was Fylde who created the first real chance when Ben Turner returned a kick from deep, and raced through a gap before finding Tom Carleton.

He produced a kick ahead and regathered before being brought down just short of the Sedgley line, where the attack broke down.

Apart from that brief moment, it was Sedgley who looked dangerous in the early exchanges.

They opened the scoring with a driving maul from a lineout, the league’s top tryscorer Matt Gallagher picking it up from the back to score.

Collins couldn’t convert but the visitors were dominating possession and territory, and scored again moments later.

Andrew Riley broke clear up the wing and produced a chip over the top for Jamie Harrison, who dived on the loose ball to cross and make it 10-0 with 17 minutes gone.

Things weren’t going to plan for the hosts, who saw Joe Bedlow leave the pitch with a shoulder injury as well as struggling to put together any fluent moves.

It was one-way traffic, and Sedgley’s rolling maul caused Fylde all sorts of problems, Gallagher latching onto the back of another one to go over for his second of the game, Collins converting.

They then scored the try of the match right on the stroke of half-time when a superb inside ball sliced open the Fylde defence.

It found Rhys Henderson, who raced clear to cross, and a Collins conversion meant Sedgley had a 24-0 lead going into the break.

It was going to take something special for Fylde to mount a comeback and despite Carleton and Matt Sturgess both making breaks through the Sedgley defence, neither could find their way over the line.

Sedgley, on the other hand, had no issue in that department, as Robert Birtwell charged down a Carleton kick before collecting and scoring.

Gallagher made it three from three when he crossed off the back of another powerful Sedgley rolling maul, before Fylde were reduced to 14 men when Matt Garrod was sinbinned for a high tackle.

With no further scoring, it meant Sedgley had ended Fylde’s unbeaten home league run with a superb performance from start to finish.

The loss also saw Fylde slip to fifth in the table going into a tough trip to Bournville next week, before returning home on March 5 to take on Blaydon.

Fylde RFC: Turner, Hadfield, Carleton, Bedlow (Forster 19), Grimes, Sturgess, Lanigan (Clayton 66), Barrow (Kyle-Clay 50), Gregory, Bowker (Ashcroft 50), Parkinson, Garrod, Corrie, O’Ryan (Partington 55), Fairbrother.

Sedgley Park: A Riley, Henderson, Glasse, M Riley, Harrison (Tansey 70), Collins, Openshaw (Crampton 61), Chilvers (Downham 71), Gallagher, Blanchard, Birtwell, O Crowe (Woolfenden 70), James, Goodman, Lees (E Crowe 61).

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