Fylde dig deep to see off Ionians
FYLDE were forced to dig deep to make it four wins in a row against a strong Hull Ionians side.
The game was like a chess match early on, with both teams looking for a way to break the other team down,
But the visitors suffered two injuries within the opening ten minutes which stopped either side from getting any real rhythm in the game.
Henry Hadfield then made an excellent break up the middle before being tackled, and when the defenders didn’t roll away, it resulted in Nathan Hill being sent to the sin bin.
Greg Smith slotted over the penalty for the first points of the match to push them into a 3-0 lead.
Both sides were still looking for that all-important first try of the afternoon,
And while the supporters continued to wait for that, Smith converted another penalty goal to extend Fylde’s advantage to 6-0.
Fylde’s captain Ben Gregory then decided enough was enough, takmatters into his owns hands to break through the Ionians line before spinning the full-back and putting the ball down to score the game’s opening try.
Smith converted again to make it 13-0 before Hill made up for his earlier ill-discipline for the visitors with a try in the corner on the stroke of halftime to put them back in the contest.
The conversion was missed though, and Fylde held a crucial 13-5 advantage at the break.
The visitors had got themselves into the game now, however, and after sustained pressure on the Fylde line, Ben Bell powered over from close range.
Smith made no mistake with the conversion attempt this time to reduce Fylde’s lead to a single point.
Tom Carleton then scored the try of the match with a superb break from inside his own 22-metre zone and showed a quick pair of heels to scoot clear all the way to the line before touching down
Smith couldn’t convert the try, but when Stephenson was sin-binned for Hull, after giving a penalty away, Smith stepped up to put over another penalty and make it Fylde 21-12 Hull Ionians.
Adam Lewis then scored off the back of a ruck for Fylde and Smith converted to make it a satisfying final scoreline and a deserved win for the hosts.
Fylde’s joint head coach Alex Loney was delighted with his team’s performance, saying: “We started off and the conditions were really tough, it was wet and we had to win that game line and those physicality battles early on.”