Fylde RFC in driving seat in race for promotion play-off but boss Warren Spragg won't get ahead of himself

Fylde remain in the box-seat for runners-up spot and a promotion play-off against the second-placed club from National Two South.

Sedgley Park's defeat means they remain nine points behind Fylde in fourth and can no longer catch Spragg's side by winning their remaining game in hand.

Fylde's closest challengers are third-placed Hinckley, who have climbed to within six points on the back an eight-game winning streak.

The Woodlands club are favourites for the play-off: four of their final seven matches are at home and they face three of the current bottom four.

Fylde finish with back-to-back home fixtures, the last one against winless bottom club Scunthorpe who leaked 109 points against Chester on Saturday - and they have the benefit of another Saturday off next month.

First up is a game on Loughborough Students' artificial pitch on Saturday, a club Fylde defeated 33-7 at the Woodlands in October.

Spragg's side have piled on a half-century of points in their last two away games, scoring 64 in their previous match on a synthetic surface last month at Stourbridge - Fylde's biggest total for nine years.

But for all the positives, Spragg will be sticking rigidly to his one-game-at-a-time philosophy in the weeks ahead.

He told The Gazette: "We can now we can look forward to going to Loughborough and playing on their 3G pitch. We have gone well on those surfaces because we can play at speed and that really suits us.

"They also have a busy period of university fixtures, which could mean they spread out their squad, but all we can do is focus on ourselves.

"There isn't much we can do other than to win our own games. If we do that we will finish above Hinckley.

"Sedgley Park's games in hand were never really factor because we play them in April, so again if we won all our games we'd finish above them.

"I really don't spend too much time looking at other people's fixtures but clearly Hinckley are doing well. They are a tidy, physical team who are difficult to play against."

Second place in Two South is currently held by Kent club Tonbridge Juddians, though that league is far tighter than its northern equivalent - only eight points separate the top four, with the third and fourth-placed clubs (Taunton Titans and Redruth) having a game in hand on leaders Henley Hawks and Tonbridge.

Spragg added: "The top three in that league all have more points than us, so the way it's going you would expect the team from Two South to have home advantage in the play-off.

"But that's still a long way ahead and we need to plan week by week."