Sorry Fylde humbled

Nelson admitted: “It was one of those days and we had a forthright chat about it in the changing-room.

“We came up against a team who were looking over their shoulders in a kind of relegation battle. They came with a specific game, they had a lot of passion and they put the tackles in.

“I am afraid we stood off them and paid the price. No matter what happened, whenever we tried to get back into the game, little errors crept in and we got stripped of the ball.

“We made some poor decisions and they capitalised on them, so we have to take it on the chin.”

The Fylde coach insisted: “You don’t become a bad side overnight, and we are certainly not a bad side, and we are third in the table at the close of play. It’s how we move on from here that’s key.

“We are not going to lick our wounds. We are going to face up to the problems head-on.

“It is a collective thing – there is no blame culture at Fylde. We are in it together. We will come back.

“We have ten games left in the season. For me, we have just the right trip on Saturday, Barking away.

“It is a tough game but (it is one where) we reassert ourselves.

“Then we are into February and we have to keep going forward.”

Nelson added: “When we play well, it is not (down to) individuals, but there are some things that we have to address. There have been issues in terms of injuries and knocks.

“Because we have a relatively small squad, compared to a lot of other clubs, and we don’t have any access to academy players or loan players from any Premiership clubs at the moment, our resources have been a bit stretched.

“But we have been good enough to beat a lot of good sides this season, including Jersey (the leaders), so we will fight back.”

Quizzed on the injury front, Nelson said: “We are in the part of the season when we are never fully fit to play rugby, but you have just got to get through it.”

Asked if he thought Blaydon had produced the best performance by a visiting side to Fylde this year, the coach answered: “The result would suggest that’s the case. It is hard to take. We were congratulating ourselves on getting 10 points off Sedgley Park and, hey presto, we lost this match.

“Sport has as great way of kicking you where it hurts and it did that on Saturday.”

n PRIOR to Saturday’s match, Fylde centre Mike Waywell and coaches Mark Nelson, Brian Ashton and Brian Gornall, attended Fulwood Methodist Church for the funeral of former Sale Sharks wing Selorm Kuade, who died aged 24.

Nelson said: “It was not an easy day. There was a full church and a lot of presence from his school, his club and his family and friends.

“It was a very moving service, and you just come away from it and wondering, why?’

Nelson was working at Sale’s academy when Kuade, who had to retire prematurely from rugby, joined from Royal Lancaster Grammar School.

Waywell played with Kuade at Sale.