Fylde edge out Hull Ionians to maintain perfect start

A titanic tussle in a ding-dong contest went down to the wire, Fylde edging the try count five to four as the spectators at the excellent facilities at Brantingham Park were treated to a hatful of points for the second season running.

On 15 minutes, a line pass saw Conor Wilkinson break through, draw the full back and put Greg Smith in for the opening try, which he converted to get Fylde going at 7-0.

The lead didn’t last long as Ionians forced a scum penalty, set up the catch and drive and release the ball for inside centre Josh Britton to crash over.

Goal kicking machine Lewis Minikin added the extras, and the game was tied at seven apiece.

Fylde nudged back in front on 29 minutes when a forceful trundle by Matt Ashcroft led to a penalty which Smith slotted to make it 10-7.

Tristan Woodman showed he is no slouch in the jackal area either with a fine penalty win to relieve pressure.

Ionians held up Dave Fairbrother over the line to relieve pressure themselves before earning a penalty on the Fylde 10-metre line on 38 minutes.

Minikin missed his only kick of the day with the tough long-range attempt.

Crucially, Fylde capitalised on that miss by scoring with the last play of the half.

A neat grubber kick and re-gather by Smith created an overlap for Adam Lanigan, as Lanigan was levelled into touch he slid another perfect grubber kick through which try poacher extraordinaire Ben Gregory swooped on to dot down.

Smith converted and at 17-7 up Fylde took a healthy lead into half-time.

Early in the second half, a poor exit kick gave the big, bustling Ionians full-back Jack Townend the chance to run the ball back with interest.

He duly did so, crashing through two tackles and offloading for Minikin to race under the posts, converting his own try to make it 17-14 after 42 minutes.

Five minutes later Ionians earned a turnover penalty and kicked for touch.

An awful kick was turned into a great one by Fylde knocking the ball on close to their own line rather than let the ball run dead.

Another penalty followed, Minikin slotted it and suddenly the scores were level at 17 each on 47 minutes.

Nathan Hill then squeezed in for a try, Minikin’s excellent touchline conversion meant Ionians had scored 17 points in 11 minutes and Fylde were 24-17 down.

Pete Altham looked to have squeezed in at the corner, but his foot was deemed to have gone in touch. It mattered not as a penalty advantage saw Fylde kick to touch, Parkinson took the line out and the excellent driving maul rumbled over with Ben O’Ryan taking the leather over the whitewash.

Smith’s conversion attempt drifted wide, but Fylde had stopped the rot and were back in the game at 24-22 down with 57 minutes gone.

Fylde then created space for Tom Grimes to go over for their bonus point try on 64 minutes. Smith converted and Fylde were now back in front at 29-24.

The lead was further improved on 67 minutes when a strong burst up the middle by Ben Gregory saw Fylde awarded another penalty when the tackler made no attempt to roll away.

Smith kicked to the corner and another line out catch and drive was executed to perfection, this time Ben Gregory scoring, his second try of the day. It was unconverted but Fylde now led34-24.

Ionians were not done yet and the impressive number eight George Mewburn forcied his way over, Minikin converted and with only three minutes left Fylde’s lead was a nervy one at34-31.

Fortunately, Ionians, in trying to run the ball from deep, knocked on and Fylde were able to force a scrum penalty, then play keep ball to run the clock down and secure a very hard-foughtwin.