Fylde RFC must be wary of the wounded Tigers

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Alex Loney isn’t reading too much into league positions as Fylde RFC look to make it three straight National Two North wins on Saturday.

After two defeats in the first three games of the campaign, back-to-back victories over Chester and Hull Ionians have lifted Fylde into fifth.

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Next up is a trip to bottom club Sheffield Tigers, the first of three games against the present bottom three before the season’s first weekend off in November.

The Tigers have lost all five matches so far, though two of those were by a point and another by nine before last Saturday’s 59-17 defeat at Chester.

Fylde RFC joint-head coach Alex Loney Picture: Chris Farrow/Fylde RFCFylde RFC joint-head coach Alex Loney Picture: Chris Farrow/Fylde RFC
Fylde RFC joint-head coach Alex Loney Picture: Chris Farrow/Fylde RFC
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Consequently, Fylde’s joint-head coach is warning against even the slightest hint of complacency from anyone at the Woodlands.

“It’s a hard place to go,” Loney said of tomorrow’s hosts.

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“I think they’re in a dangerous position by their standards, they haven’t started as well as they would have wanted.

“The results aren’t going their way but they have quality players and we’ll have to be on the money to get a result.

“I think the league isn’t where it potentially will be because I’ll be massively surprised if Sheffield Tigers finish in their current position.

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“I’m sure they will buck up but it’s hard to tell how the season will develop until Christmas, when everyone has played everyone else.

“What I will say is I think the league is really competitive with games and opportunities for everybody to pick up points.

“If we go to Sheffield at the weekend and we aren’t performing at the levels we can, we’ll get beaten.

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“All we’re trying to do is build consistency and see if we can challenge, that’s our mindset.

“We feel we have enough quality to be challenging at the top end of the league but we want to get that consistency first.”

In the build-up to last weekend’s match at Ionians, Loney had challenged Fylde’s players to put together consecutive wins.

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A 35-32 scoreline granted that wish, though it wasn’t the most straightforward victory given the lead changed hands six times.

Fylde eventually came out on top with a display that offered some positive signs and areas to be addressed.

“We were really pleased to get back-to-back wins and to get a win away from home,” Loney added.

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“It was a tight game, with only three points in it at the end, but we were really happy with some of the stuff that happened.

“We’re working on certain things in attack – looking after the ball, making sure we’re making good decisions, getting into space and being consistent within that.

“There have been times this year where we’ve been a bit error-prone, particularly against Lymm (49-14 defeat), and that puts us under pressure.

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“There were moments at Ionians when we could have got frustrated and lost a bit of composure when we had to come from behind – but we didn’t and that’s another positive.

“There were some other bits we have to work on. We want to be better without the ball and we will spend some time on that this week.

“In the first half, we felt we left some points out there. There were a couple of times when we were in an attacking position and didn’t score points on the back of it.”