Fylde RFC confident they can turn a corner

Fylde fought back from a 17-point deficit to lead by four in the closing moments of last Saturday’s National Two North clash at Sheffield, only for the hosts to finish 34-28 winners.

It was a sixth defeat in seven games for Fylde but joint-head coach Briers sees enough positive signs to believe they will soon be on the right side of the “fine margins”.

He told The Gazette: “It was disappointing but it wasn’t like some of the other defeats.

“We weren’t consistently making errors but the ones we made cost us.

“We did give too many penalties away, which gave too many opportunities to a good side.

“We did play a lot of good stuff and our second half would have been good enough to win the game had we not conceded so many points in the first half.”

Centre remains a key problem area but teenager Freddie Reader gave cause for optimism with a tryscoring debut.

Briers said: “Freddie joined us early in the season.

“Alex (Loney, Briers’ fellow head coach) taught him at Stonyhurst and so knew what he was capable of.

“With players out it was an opportunity to give him a debut and he did a good job.

“He is a talented lad with good potential and we look forward to seeing more of him.

“Centre has been a problem after Connor (Wilkinson) left and both our inside centres were injured in pre-season.

“It has been difficult to cover that position and we’ve been playing people out of position there.”

Fylde have slipped back into the lower half of the table and sit immediately above Saturday’s eighth-placed visitors Otley, albeit from a game more.

The improving West Yorkshire side have won two of their last three, the defeat coming by just two points against unbeaten Rotherham.

“Otley were strong last year and will be similar on Saturday,” said Briers.

“They started slowly but are getting into a good run now.

“They give you a good physical battle but they also like to play.

“We’re still scoring a reasonable number of points so, if we can tighten up, we can win games.

“I like to think our attack is good enough to put points on the board.

“I know Huddersfield haven’t had a great season but our game against them (a 62-19 win two weeks ago) showed what can happen when it all comes together.

“It’s fine margins but we can definitely put a run together.”