PUSH LEAGUE LEADERS ALL THE WAY’ Leeds fashioned on overlap on the right wing for Henry MacNab to score and put Leeds further ahead at 25-5. Credit to Fylde, they managed to re- group, got back to their full complement, and made some changes. Matt Ashcroft and Tane Bentley replaced Olli Parkinson and Sam Parker in the pack and Fylde wrestled some possession and territory gains back.
A sharp break by Will Wootton put Leeds on the back foot and at the next phase skipper Ben Gregory ran a gorgeous line to slice through like the proverbial knife through butter to touch down near the posts. Greg Smith converted, and it was 25-12 to Leeds on 50 minutes. Fylde had chances to ramp up the pressure but a missed penalty kick to touch then an overthrown line out gave Leeds easy outs, as they forged up field again, and on 53 minutes MacNab got his brace with the only soft try of the day to put Leeds 30-12 up. After this flurry of scoring, the last 27 minutes turned into a competitive tussle, defensive structures back in place for both teams, with all the prodding and probing coming to nought. Fylde really fronted up in this period, Tye Raymont in particular putting in a monster hit and some muscular carries. Ethan Hall-Lyon had a strong game on his return, Matt Garrod and Olli Parkinson’s line-out work as always was excellent and Will Wootton has zip and feistiness to his game, shown in a highland wrestling session he had with a much bigger fellow in a dust-up episode that nearly led to an-in melee during this period. Toby Harrison, as ever, was his usual 8 to 9 out of 10, Fylde’s most effective clear-out man for sure. The effort and endeavour 1 to 20 was there for all to see. No one can say Fylde do not put their all in, often against much heftier opponents. In the last ten minutes Fylde camped out in the Leeds 22 and forced a raft of penalties, including three at the scrum and finally a yellow card to Tom Williams, with barely seconds left on the clock. A quick tap and go by Will Wootton at the last penalty created enough space for the overlap and Tom Forster touched down wide out on the left to give Fylde the last say as time ran out. 30-17 at final knockings meant it was the least points scored in a game by Leeds this season and one of their toughest tests so far, although Fylde coaches Loney & Briers will be looking for more than that of course.
There is no doubt this is a tough spell for Fylde, who have become accustomed to winning way more than they lose. The two recent defeats away at the top two teams, Rotherham and Leeds, in themselves, are not so much the issue, it is the three losses around them, in eminently winnable games, that are the disappointing aspect. The coaches and players will now have a week off before returning to the Woodlands on the 4th November for the visit of bottom of the table Huddersfield, when all concerned will look to halt this losing sequence and get the train back on the tracks. Joint Head Coach Alex Loney said: “Overall, we’re much happier with the performance in comparison to previous weeks. I thought that a lot of the detail we’ve worked on in training was much improved especially in providing width in defence. We put a lot of field pressure on Leeds at various times in the match but unfortunately there were a couple of key moments where we let them off and gave them scoring opportunities. “Going away to Leeds who are on a good run and unbeaten in the league was never going to be easy. But to get that level of competition where we went toe to toe with the Tykes for a good proportion of the game was excellent. “We take a lot of confidence from that but ultimately we don’t want to be patting ourselves on the back for a good performance but not getting results. In the weeks ahead reversing this is firmly on our minds. But first things first, the performance was much better and the lads should be proud of that. It will give them confidence as we approach coming games.”
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