Fylde RFC 40 Hull 29: Another win at the Woodlands
A real back and forth National Two North game at the Woodlands ended with Fylde extending their unbeaten run to four games despite the challenge posed by a very physical Hull side.
It was Fylde who got the scoreboard moving in the 10th minute, when Sam Stott finished off a flowing move off the back of a penalty.
He dived over into the left-hand corner from where Danny Cassidy produced his first of his five conversions.
Hull began to concede more penalties, allowing Fylde to produce an almost carbon copy of their first try.
This time, it was Adam Lanigan who stretched over in the corner before Cassidy landed an even better conversion despite the angle and tricky breeze.
Two tries ahead, and with Hull going down to 14 men after a David Halaifonua high tackle, the momentum was with Fylde.
It wasn’t straightforward though as, in the 30th minute, Hull stole the ball from Fylde’s struggling lineout which culminated in Harry Gunn-McClean scoring the visitors’ first try.
Five minutes later, the returning Halaifonua ran an excellent line to touch down beneath the posts with Reece Dean’s conversion putting Hull within two points.
However, from the final play of the half, Fylde skipper David Fairbrother somehow muscled his way over the line after another accumulation of Hull penalties.
Cassidy’s kick made it three out of three, giving Fylde a nine-point lead at 21-12 by the break.
Minutes after the restart, Fairbrother almost added a second try to his name but saw his effort disallowed for a knock-on during the build-up.
Fylde did not let this stop them though as, in the 45th minute, Cassidy put his kicking abilities to one side by scoring a try of his own.
He rounded off a brilliantly swift Fylde counter-attack by producing a wicked dummy to see off the Hull defence before touching down.
There was to be no conversion on this occasion, meaning Fylde now led 26-12.
The home side would be glad to have this lead as the next 10 minutes or so would prove difficult, starting with Fairbrother receiving a yellow card for an accumulation of penalties.
That was followed by Hull’s former Premiership prop, Charlie Beech, bundling over the line from the subsequent penalty.
Dean then landed the conversion, meaning Hull were back within a converted try of the home side.
Any worries among the Fylde crowd were eased around the hour mark as Fylde completed their scoring with back-to-back tries.
The first came after Ben Turner ran a nice line, largely helped by another splendid Lewis Quinn carry beforehand which made plenty of ground.
Cassidy was in again three minutes later, converting both tries and enabling Fylde to relax a little with their 40-19 lead.
The final 10 minutes saw Hull’s Loma Kivalu score two tries, as well as a yellow card for Olly Trippier, as Fylde secured another win at the Woodlands.
Fylde RFC: Turner; Lanigan (Kellett 63), Cassidy, Stott, Gilliland (Gould 75); Hunt, Maguire; Bowker (Trippier 72), Parker (Sutcliffe 62), Trippier (Rudkin 30), Walton, Greenwood, Quinn (Senior 63), Ashcroft, Fairbrother.
Hull: Gunn-McLean; Dawkins (Ratuvou 65), Sukani, Halaifonua, Lineham; Dean (Norman 74), Pinder; Kivalu, Bergmanas (Denman 63), Denman (Beech 37), Jobling, Regardsoe (Ward 29), Renouf (Makaffi 60, Bergmanas 70), Uriburu-Gray, Latu.