Fylde RFC 22 Preston Grasshoppers 22: Hoppers secure Woodlands stalemate
Preston Grasshoppers battled back from a 19-0 half-time deficit to snatch a draw with the final play of a nerve-racking National Two North derby in front of a packed Woodlands crowd.
Cut apart for Fylde’s three first-half tries on Saturday, Hoppers looked to be seriously up against it.
However, head coach Dan Orwin’s demand that his side “cut out some of the errors and put Fylde under pressure” paid a priceless dividend of three league points and lifted them to eighth in the table.
“It was frustrating that we gave them a 19-point start,” he said.
“In the second half we were winning the collisions and the gain line and we knew they would give a lot of penalties away. I’m really happy, but just think what might have been!”
Fylde joint-head coach Chris Briers admitted: “We let them back into the game, but we knew they would keep going to the end.”
In a game of 30 penalties and six yellow cards, there was always going to be a stop-start element as well as missed opportunities.
Hoppers were held up from one lineout drive and lost an attacking lineout, while Fylde could not capitalise on a charged-down kick.
Nevertheless, the hosts looked in firm control in the first 40 minutes as they scored a brace of easy tries, through a shaky defence, from Will Hunt and Ben Turner, as well as a third from Dave Fairbrother’s quick tap penalty.
The second period was a different story with lineout drives from Hoppers’ dominant forwards bringing them tries through substitutes Danny Maher and Rory Brand, along with a beautifully-worked score for winger Jack Roberts after an interception in midfield.
Hoppers’ first two tries came with Fylde’s Ben Walton in the sinbin and no sooner was he back than Fairbrother also saw yellow.
Preston centre Billy Glover was next to be binned by referee Daniel Woods, with Danny Cassidy landing the resultant penalty.
Fylde were reduced to 13 men for the last 10 minutes, with three-quarters Leo Gilliland and Tom Forster also carded.
That gave Hoppers the chance to mount a match-saving late assault, ending in Maher being driven over for his second score to secure the bonus point.
Sam Freeman had missed his previous three attempted conversions, including hitting the bar from in front of the sticks.
This time, he nervelessly landed the final one from wide out to spark joyous celebrations among the travelling fans, while the hosts – outscored four tries to three – claimed two more league points from their third draw of the campaign.