Chester 25 Fylde RFC 40: Fylde forced to battle for victory

On a fine, dry day, it was Fylde who made the first incisive break as Tom Carleton broke the home defence.

Chester scrambled and conceded a penalty, though Fylde’s lineout went astray before they committed an offence.

The hosts displayed some excellent line kicking all day, while their set piece was also solid in both departments.

Their first lineout led to phased play and a scrum, which saw Fylde shoved backwards with Luke Cox forcing his way over.

Gethin Long missed the conversion but, after a promising start, Fylde were 5-0 down.

Slowly and gradually, they found some fluency which paid dividends on 15 minutes as Matt Ashcroft’s break had Chester on the back foot and created an overlap.

The pass went to ground but was regathered by Sam Parker, who shrugged off two high tackles before diving over, though Greg Smith’s missed conversion left the scores 5-5.

Fylde led straight from the restart, Adam Lanigan and Matt Garrod combining for Ben Gould to cross with Smith’s conversion making it 12-5.

However, the scrum again buckled under pressure and Long’s penalty on 21 minutes reduced Chester’s arrears to four points.

The period leading up to half-time saw Fylde have their best spell of the game as they crossed again on 26 minutes.

Connor Wilkinson glided through and drew the full-back before finding the supporting Toby Harrison, who claimed the score with Smith’s conversion putting Fylde 19-8 in front.

With Chester still gaining scrum penalties and territory with their kicks to touch, Fylde held up one catch-and-drive over the line before they extended their lead on 37 minutes.

Wilkinson took a quick tap penalty on halfway and broke the defensive line, once more drawing the full-back and sending Smith under the posts for a try he converted.

Leading 26-8 at the break, Fylde’s sporadic third-quarter malaise during the season raised its head again as they conceded just after the restart.

Chester fashioned an overlap far too easily on the left and Sean Green finished off the move in the corner to leave the score 26-13.

Fifteen minutes of helter-skelter rugby from Fylde followed as they had plenty of chances without converting them into points.

Chester remained more methodical and scored a fine try on 58 minutes as Ben Ivory chipped over the backline, regathered, and forged into Fylde’s 22 before George Baxter dived over.

Now leading 26-18, Fylde saw Wilkinson snaffle a Chester pass 40 yards out before shrugging off two attempted tackles to score under the posts with Smith converting.

However, another loose offload saw Fylde defending 10 yards from their line with a perfect catch-and-drive ending with Chester’s Alick Croft scoring and Oscar Malick converting.

With the score 33-25, Fylde created five minutes of good pressure with Dave Fairbrother finding Cole Potts, who went over for a 74th-minute try converted by Smith and leaving them able to see out the final stages.

Chester: Green, Craven (Ryder), Lewtas, Ivory, Long, Malik, Holloway, Woods (Robson), Croft, Williams (Furnival), Spalding, Lloyd (Byrne), Joseph, Owen, Cox (Baxter).

Fylde: Dorrington, Grimes, Carleton, Wilkinson, Lanigan (Rawlings), Smith, Gould (Potts), Barrow (Bell), Parker (Barrow), Ashcroft (Bowker/Bell), Parkinson (Robinson), Garrod, Harrison, Higginson, Fairbrother.