Macclesfield 19 Fylde RFC 21: A battling win on the road

Fylde had the wind behind their backs as they started quickly after Macclesfield had cleared to touch from the kick-off.

The lineout catch and drive was set up, only for Sam Parker to catch the home defence cold by peeling off early and touching down.

Danny Cassidy converted and Fylde were 7-0 up after two minutes, though an early sign of things to come arrived in the second scrum of the day.

Fylde popped up under pressure and conceded a penalty before Macc’s Dan Leake made their first meaningful break, only to knock on in the tackle.

At times, Fylde were guilty of being too impatient when they didn’t have the ball, leading to a high penalty count, and Macc’s knock-on errors were not punished.

Knowing a single score was unlikely to be enough playing with the elements, Fylde were able to forge further ahead on 30 minutes.

Macclesfield’s lineout went astray, Gabe Maguire approached their line and, with the home defence unable to organise in time, Parker sneaked under the posts with Hunt’s conversion making it 14-0.

The home team responded by working their way up the pitch and forcing a scrum on Fylde’s 22.

Fylde defended the initial phases well but Macc stayed patient until Manu Shute found enough of a gap for an unconverted try on 37 minutes, which left them 14-5 down at the break.

The lead looked slender, given the conditions, with Fylde knowing stout defence and good game management would be needed as they would now play into the wind.

This plan went awry immediately when they knocked on the restart and it was picked up by a player in front, giving Macc a penalty.

They kicked this to touch and set up the catch and drive before rumbling towards the line, where the drive was halted illegally and a penalty try awarded.

Corey Bowker saw yellow, leaving Fylde a man down for 10 minutes and with a 14-12 lead.

Although Fylde worked hard to repel Macc and keep the ball when they got it, more scrum penalties helped them put Fylde under the cosh.

They were again reduced to 14 men on 64 minutes as Cassidy was sent to the bin for not retreating 10 at a tap and go penalty.

Macc set up another lineout in the red zone before they created enough space for Samson Shute to squeeze in at the corner for the go-ahead try.

Harry Oliver’s touchline conversion made it 19-14 as Macc led for the first time.

There followed a concerted period of Fylde possession, with 15 to 20 phases of players driving closer to the line before Quinn crashed over to make it 19-19.

That would have perhaps been a fair scoreline but Hunt defied the wind and the angle to slot over the winning conversion.

Macclesfield: Leake, S Shute, Blackwell (Keogh 55), H Oliver, I Shute, Attis, Martin, J Oliver, Talbot (Boughey 61), Hughes, Harding, Blackburn, Darlington (Hulbert 50), Longmore (Broadley 52), Hulbert (Smith 28).

Fylde RFC: Dorrington, Turner (Trippier 45, Turner 52), Cassidy, Stott, Gilliland, Hunt, Maguire, Fairbrother, Ashcroft (Sutcliffe 74), Walton (Senior 28), Greenwood, Trippier (King 32), Parker, Bowker. Unused subs: Gould, Lanigan.