No ball this time for Cinders

Nelson said: “There is nothing broken but we need to get him scanned as quickly as possible to determine the extent of the problem.

“It’s a real shame when a young player suffers an injury when he is finding his way in the game and we hope it isn’t particularly serious.”

The injury afforded a Fylde debut to Oliver Viney, after the paperwork clearing him to play after his return from Australia was completed in time.

Nelson added: “Oliver hadn’t played since September but he slipped into our system well, and he made a couple of good tackles and breaks.

“Credit to John Greenwood for getting a player registered in three days from Australia at a time when Preston Grasshoppers haven’t managed to get one registered in three weeks.”

Viney played his part in a pleasing team performance for Nelson, who said: “Cinderford are a hungry side in a false positon, with talent in their team.

“They will win games and we played very well with the odd iffy patch, but that always happens in this league and you are punished for your mistakes.

“But the application, invention and commitment were all commendable and set us up for very tough assignment at Wharfedale on Saturday.

“They regard it as their cup final and we will rise to that challenge in what is a traditional Fylde fixture which we haven’t had for a few years.

“We have Nick Royle back next Saturday (after he completed his current England Sevens duties as the national side finished fourth in a tournament in South Africa), so everything is very positive.

“We have dug deep in the last four games. We have a lot of facets to our play and a really good team spirit.”

Finally, Nelson was delighted with the response to his ‘Big Christmas Gate’ initiative for Saturday’s match.

“I’d like to say a big thank you to all the supporters, members and mini-juniors for adding 500 to our normal gate. We need more of that, though, because we feel this club is really going places.”