13-man Fylde hold on to beat Sheffield in game of two halves

Fylde didn’t take long to get the ball rolling as Scott Rawlings produced an inch perfect kick to the corner for Tom Grimes to dive on and score, with only one minute gone on the clock.

Greg Smith missed the conversion, but he soon had chance to make amends, when from a penalty tap Corey Bowker burst through a gap close to the line to score, Smith converting this time around.

It was soon 19-0, Fylde returning a kick with intent through David Fairbrother, who sent Grimes racing up the wing, before he gave the ball to the skipper Ben Gregory to walk-in.

When Olli Parkinson was sin binned in the 19th minute, it seemed as though that it might stop Fylde’s momentum, but that certainly wasn’t the case.

Rawlings was directing traffic in attack, and he slotted Henry Higginson through a gap, who sprinted away to score, Smith converted again to make it 26-0.

Sheffield managed to get their hands on the ball but could never keep it long enough to make the possession count, and Fylde on the other hand were executing to perfection, Toby Harrison barging his way over the line for another try.

Harrison clearly wasn’t satisfied with just one try, and he scored again on the stroke of half-time under the sticks, Smith slotting the conversion over to send Fylde in at a point a minute at 40-0.

After that first-half display it seemed as though Fylde were going to be able to cruise to their 11th home win of the season, but that wasn’t to be the case.

They found themselves back down to 14 players at the start of the second-half when Matt Garrod was shown a yellow card, and the visitors took advantage to get themselves up and running on the scoreboard.

David Clayden barged his way through the Fylde defensive line to score, with Elliot Fisher converting.

The sun might’ve been out and shining, but the hosts were struggling to warm to the task in this second 40 minutes, lacking the fluency they had benefited from in the opening half.

Sheffield on the other hand were starting to get into the game, and Callum Posa jinked his way over from close range to dive over under the posts, with Fisher kicking the resulting goal to bring it back to 40-14.

Soon after, a third sin bin of the game followed for Fylde when Tom Carleton was penalised, and David Fairbrother followed moments later to reduce them to 13 men.

Despite this, their defence stood firm, and when Carleton returned to the field he rounded off the scoring when he glided through a gap to seal the win, Smith missed the conversion but Fylde had won 45-14.

Next up they head to play Sheffield’s neighbours Sheffield Tigers, before playing their final home game of the 2022/23 season at home to Otley on April 15.