Spragg: Fylde need to start playing as well as we train

Ahead of tomorrow’s visit from fourth-placed Plymouth Albion, who put 68 points on Fylde in Devon in September, Spragg told The Gazette: “When we made one mistake we would follow it with more and concede points. It was frustrating.

“Old Elthamians are a good team but nothing special, and we should not have let them get so far away from us and score so many points.

“Had we lost by five or 10 points, maybe we could have handled that but the final scoreline was very, very disappointing.

“There’s no point training well unless every ounce of energy is being thrown into the game on Saturday. We have to be better with our discipline and intensity but we need to play for 80 minutes. “

Fylde suffered yet another injury to a winger in London as George Brookes pulled a hamstring.

And although Henry Hadfield is available after concussion to replace him, Spragg is still denied the competition for places among the backs which he is starting to enjoy up front.

The coach explained: “George tried to stay on but we brought him off. He has had a scan and hopefully will not be out too long but it’s a disappointment for George.

“But we are thin on numbers in the backs, with James Bailey, Tom Grimes and Chris Briers all out and Ralph Dowds will be missing for another month, which is longer than we had thought

“We don’t have the competition we wanted in the backs but we are healthier in the forwards. Adam McCarthy is available and Alex Loney is ready to play, so we have the sort of selection headaches we want in the forwards.”