Fylde RFC 33 Scunthorpe 36: Paying the price for second-half collapse

The Woodlands crowd had been desperate for a return to form after Fylde’s recent struggles – and a game against their struggling visitors seemed to offer a good chance of that.

Despite a wobbly opening which saw Fylde trail 3-0 thanks to Will Dark’s penalty, they quickly bounced back.

Will Hunt neatly chipped over the visitors’ defensive line before catching the ball to score under the posts, with Danny Cassidy converting for a 7-3 lead.

Scunthorpe retook the lead momentarily on the 15-minute mark, when full-back Tom Davis drove over from a tap-and-go penalty, but the Fylde players then stepped up a gear.

Their forwards battered down the Scunthorpe defence, leading to tries from Will Greenwood in the 23rd minute and Adam Lewis a minute before half-time.

That left Fylde in a good position with a 21-8 lead at half-time, albeit having seen Cassidy stretchered off with a bad knee injury.

However, they again broke the Scunthorpe defensive line a handful of minutes into the second half on their way to another try.

Scum-half Ben Gould was the scorer on this occasion, followed a few minutes later by another try that came from the best move of the match by either side.

It arrived in the 45th minute, created by winger Leo Gilliland after he did well to collect a low pass.

His pace and a step were enough to break the line once again before linking up with Hunt, who went over to score his second try.

Although Dan Slawson missed the conversion from wide out on the right, Fylde had a 25-point lead at 33-8 and were practically cruising – or so they thought.

This was the point at which things quickly went wrong for them.

Scunthorpe scored their second try of the afternoon on the hour, when Will Robinson was able to beat the tackle of Ben Turner near the touchline before cruising behind the posts.

They were in again a couple of minutes later, this time as Dylan Martin drove over from close range with Ethan Heath Drury’s conversion reducing their deficit to 11 points at 33-22.

Fylde’s nerves were only increased when, with 10 minutes to play, Scunthorpe scored again after multiple penalties in the Fylde 22.

It was Dan Gilbert, skippering his side admirably, who muscled over the line in impressive fashion with the conversion leaving Scunthorpe within four points of a result.

Then, with only five minutes to play, the inevitable happened.

Another line break took the visitors to within 10 and, with penalty advantages flying everywhere because of Fylde’s desperate defence, Scunthorpe’s Jordan Beresford powered over to put his team in front.

Dark’s conversion then gave them a three-point advantage, which is how the game would end despite Fylde’s attempts to run the ball from well within their own half.

Fylde RFC: Turner; Gilliland, Cassidy (Slawson 34), Forster, Dorrington; Hunt, Gough; Bowker (Rudkin 64), Williamson (Trippier 40), Rudkin (Lewis 29), Morgan (Greenwood 64), Garrod, Greenwood (Quinn 29), Parker (Ashcroft 64), Fairbrother.

Scunthorpe: Davies; Talbot (O’Meara 34), Dark, Heath-Drury, Robinson; Taylor (Horner 57), Mowbray; Martin, Arnold, Dale (Beresford 34, Dale 66), Elliott (Mychailuk 56), Gilbert, Payne, Dyson, Hyde (Rendall-Tyrrell 54).