: REPORTBYSIMONTAYLOR
trick man does not get man of the match. However, for taking over the captaincy so early, grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck, playing like a man possessed and inspiring everyone else to do the same, Dave Fairbrother deservedly added yet another MoM to the long list he has already. Sometimes you might not want to give it to him so you can share the love, but you just have to! Having said that, once again it was a collective effort with the whole squad performing admirably, and it is only editorial word count restraints that prevents me from giving every player a shout out. In this game, Sam Parker’s admirable 79 minute substitute stint, a bullocking run by Corey Bowker, big hits by Toby Harrison and Tom Carleton, and another assured display by Henry Higginson are worthy of mention, as well as the pack’s efforts in coping with a much heavier home eight in the scrum after the early setback with the pushover try. Coach Alex Loney’s comments were: “Overall we are very happy with the result. Dore Moor is a tough place to get a win at, especially after the early disruption of losing Ben and conceding a try. I thought the lads were fantastic to get their mindset right to cope with all that and manged the first half well uphill, deserving our tries and the lead. In the second half we were just not quite ruthless enough in managing field position, and we allowed Sheffield to keep chipping away at the lead then get their noses in front. We then showed our qualities to get two more good tries and manage the game through to a great win. Credit to Sheffield they are a good team with a big pack and threats all over the pitch, so we are very happy with the win. We now have a week off then a massive game at home to Otley.”
air but still took the catch and with the penalty advantage being played, Fylde ran a move in the backs, dummy runners creating confusion which allowed Tom Grimes to come in from the blind side wing and slice through for his second try. Smith’s conversion gave Fylde the lead back immediately at 26-23, had Sheffield been able to frustrate Fylde and keep the lead for 5 to 10 minutes things may have been very different. Fylde were now able to relax a little and upped their collective effort. Debutant James Robinson had come off the bench and he made a key contribution with a superb jackal turnover penalty win on 74 minutes, and Smith kicked deep to touch again. The line out was overthrown but Matt Ashcroft did well to tidy up at the back, Fairbrother made the bust up the middle and span the ball for Grimes to score his hat-trick try wide out. Smith slotted a lovely conversion and Fylde finally had good breathing space at 33-23. Credit to Sheffield they rose to the challenge again and dominated the last 5 minutes. Ireland narrowly missed a long-range penalty attempt, but another penalty allowed them to set up another line out catch and drive. This one was driven over from 10 yards out with Will Bennett the last man up, Ireland knocking over the conversion to narrow the gap to 33-30. Fortunately for Fylde time had expired and they had edged a fierce contest, the Tigers fully deserving their losing bonus point. Tom Grimes has noticeably upped his levels in attack and defence over the last few games and it is rare a hat-
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