Fylde RFC 56 Otley 29: Six straight wins for Woodlands squad

Led out by Matt Garrod, who was making his 150th first XV appearance for the club, Fylde went behind to an Ed Crossland penalty on 15 minutes.

That deficit was wiped out moments later as Fylde skipper Toby Harrison finished off some strong phases in the Otley 22 by blasting through a number of defenders to score.

Patrick Bishop converted to put Fylde 7-3 ahead, a lead they extended within two minutes as Freddie Reader broke the Otley line and set up a try for Tom Davis.

Bishop again added the extras for Fylde, who pulled clear with two more tries in as many minutes as half-time loomed.

The first came as man of the match Michael Walton powered over and then a scruffy restart enabled Davis to collect the ball before dummying and breaking upfield.

An offload to Jordan Dorrington meant he scored under the posts with Bishop converting both tries for a 28-3 advantage.

With matters looking bad for the visitors, they were given a glimmer of hope before half-time.

Will Derry broke the Fylde defensive line to touch down, Crossland kicking the conversion to make the score 28-10 at the break.

The second half promised tries aplenty and Fylde only took one minute to score again.

A couple of phases ended with Corey Bowker muscling his way to the line for another converted try.

It was then time for Reader to submit his entry for the try of the season award as he registered Fylde’s sixth score of the afternoon.

Receiving the ball on his own line, he outpaced the entire Otley team along the right touchline before dropping a shoulder to beat the full-back and touch down.

Bishop followed that up with a superb conversion from the right-hand corner, extending Fylde’s lead to 32 points at 42-10.

Otley weren’t done, however, as they ate into the Fylde lead with three unanswered tries.

The first came 15 minutes into the half, when Michael Graham scored in the corner and Crossland converted.

The next came as a poor Fylde pass was intercepted by Joe Rowntree, who dived in at the corner to score.

Otley’s final try came in similar fashion with Sam Taylor also finishing off a move in the corner.

The resulting conversion brought them back to within two tries at 42-29 with 10 minutes still to play, giving them hope of making an almighty comeback.

That was extinguished when, against the run of play based on the previous 20 minutes, Fylde’s nerves were calmed by some neat passing play which resulted in a try for Alex Clayton.

Despite seeing Alex Gaughan yellow-carded, Fylde also had the last word when Cam Smith intercepted 30 metres from his line.

He was able to ward off the Otley full-back along the left touchline in scoring the final try of the game, Bishop converting to finish with a 100 per cent record.

Fylde RFC: Reader (Smith), Taylor, Stott (Forster), Clayton, J Dorrington, Bishop, Gaughan, Bowker (Rudkin), Davies, Altham (Trippier), Morgan (B Dorrington), Garrod, Quinn, Harrison, Walton.

Otley: Holmes (Rowntree), Graham, Derry, Parnell, Taylor, Crossland, Connor, Moss (Nicholls), Butler (Coates), Baxter (Greenald), Johnson, Jarman, Green, Mears (Mullin), Warren-Lambert.