Fylde 36 - 14 Littleborough RUFC Seconds

Ben Irving taking the lineout in tricky conditions

Fylde showed exactly why they deserve to be top of the table with a convincing win over our Littleborough Seconds on the East Coast.

Three tries in the first hlaf and three in the second saw Fylde increase the gap between the two teams in the league table and leave Littleborough with questions to answer.

It was a valiant display from Boro in difficult circumstances and they will feel hard done by, with the final score flattering Fylde.

Littleborough were left frustratingly understrength coming into the biggest fixture of their season so far, with five late withdrawals just hours before kick off leaving them travelling with a bare bones team.

Those withdrawals had an effect almost immediately as Fylde caught Boro cold. A nothing kick into the Boro 22 saw Nathan Coop have a chance to clear his lines, unfortunately for him the kick chase was miles better than the actual kick and he was hassled into kicking across field to Fylde's inside centre. Boro's Jordan Turner tried his best to get onto the loose ball before the Fylde number 12 got his boot on the ball, nevertheless he was unable to prevent the score. The conversion attempt from wide out missed.

Boro took the lead when Josh Ellidge who burst through the defensive line a few metres out to crash over, after good retention and build up work from forwards James Bex, Samuel Dickinson and Alistair Godwin. Coop added the all important extras to give Boro an advantage with five minutes gone on the clock.

Back came Fylde with another try of their own. A scrum in the middle of the pitch provided the platform for the Fylde inside centre to carve through a wide gap in the defensive line before fending off fullback Coop to score just yards from the left hand upright.

It was a soft try to concede from a Boro perspective and not like any defence they had shown from the first 10 minutes or so. TFylde's right winger converted the simple kick to open up a gap between the two sides.

Boro responded by camping in the Fylde half and putting them under serious pressure both at scrum time and with strong running. They were actually very unfortunate not to have taken the lead.

Scrum half Richard Taylor, who was brillaint all afternoon, launched a spectacular drop goal from the half way line which comfortably sailed over the posts. However,  to the astonishment of both teams, the referee ruled it had not travelled the distance and so no three points for Boro.

A few minutes later, Nathan Coop's penalty that had looked like it was sailing between the posts was swayed left of the mark by the wind.

It was cruel on Boro who had deserved to be level and were made to pay with a well worked score in the right hand corner. Fylde started the move in their 22 making significant ground with some strong breaks before the ball was recycled and quickly put through the hands to the right winger to have space to dive down. He could not convert his own kick to leave the score 17-7 at half time.

In the second half, Fylde showed their class with two very different tries to hand them a huge advantage in the game and in the league table.

First Fylde's lock four scored from close range after number of breakdown pick and goes had Boro scrambling before substitute winger Clive cut a brilliant inside line off the 10, fighting off valiant last ditch defence from Coop and Taylor to score left of post. The Fylde kicker endured a mixed afternoon from the boot missing the first before successfully converting the second to leave the score at an unassailable 29-7 lead.

Boro never stopped working and made some terrific hits throughout from the likes of Robert Chadwick and Henry Ashworth to continue to disrupt Fylde's rhythm.

The referee sent off the Fylde substitute flanker for 10 minutes after he wrongly criticised him for a decision that went against him.

However, Boro could not make their advantage count as Fylde trucked over for their sixth of the afternoon.

The driving maul was useful weapon for Fylde all afternoon and it paved the way for the next try as despite bringing the maul down legally, Boro couldn't quite realign in time to prevent the number six to squeezing over. The kicker found his aim to stab the knife into Littleborough that little bit more.

It was not all doom and gloom for Boro as they found themselves with a glimmer of hope 10 minutes from time when winger Bob Colenutt gratefully intercepted a pop pass in his own 22 to sprint the length of the pitch to score his first try of 2016.

Coop added the two points but it would prove to have no effect as Fylde closed out the game.