Rotherham Titans suffered their first defeat of the season, as they went down 21-17 to Fylde on a windy afternoon at Woodlands.
In a highly competitive game which could have gone either way, Titans will rue not finishing off their opportunities, but can take some solace in picking up the losing bonus point to keep themselves in the hunt at the sharp end of the table.
Despite winning the second half and outscoring their hosts by 3 tries to 2, Rotherham left the North West hugely disappointed at losing their unbeaten record for the season.
After scoring their third try late on Rotherham hoped to snatch a late win; unfortunately for them referee Ben Rayner had announced that time was up 30 seconds into injury time; no doubt to the relief of the dignitaries and supporters on the balcony overlooking the clubhouse end of the ground.
In a first half that saw Rotherham enjoy large periods of territory and possession in good areas of the field, it was in fact Fylde who scored the only points with two penalties from fly half Greg Smith; his first came as early as the 3rd minute and his second came with the last kick of the half in the fourth minute of injury time.
Roth thought they had scored twice in the opening period, as in the 6th minute hooker Harry Newborn broke off a maul to charge over the line, but unfortunately for him when referee Rayner got there he deemed Fylde had held the ball up, as he did in the 38th minute when Zak Poole crashed over after a dominant Roth scrum turned over possession.
Fylde extended their advantage early in the second half with Smith’s third penalty.
However, Roth finally got on the board in the 47th minute when centre Harry Dunne finished off a nice try following good work in the build up from Callum Bustin and Jamie Cooke. Matt Minogue’s conversion effort narrowly missed the left upright.
Then in a 10 minute spell which ultimately decided the game, Fylde crossed the whitewash twice through scrum half Matt Sturgess and winger Henry Hadfield to give them a healthy 21-5 lead.
Titans battled back on 70 minutes when number 8 Callum Bustin powered over from a catch and drive close to the line and he did so again in the final play of the match to earn his side a losing bonus point.
Roth will no doubt feel, that whilst they lost to a very good side, they let this one slip away and there’s little doubt too that the South Yorkshire side will now dust themselves down and be ready to go again next week against third placed side Stourbridge.
Speaking afterwards Titans’ Adam Byron said:
“Fylde is a really tough place to come, they have a big wide pitch and that’s not something we are used to compared to Clifton Lane; but the frustration is I felt we came across and put in a performance.
“We gave ourselves opportunities and we put ourselves in good positions, but we weren’t clinical enough when we needed to be. So it almost feels like the game was won, but in those final 5 metres we didn’t come away with the points and the frustration is the game was there to be won and we didn’t grasp that opportunity.
“I’m also frustrated because I feel with this squad of players we can win every game we are involved with, whether that is at home or away and that has to be our mentality from here on in.
“For the majority of the game we did everything right; we played in the right areas, we’ve won the penalties and put it into the corner, we just weren’t clinical enough in that area today.
“Maybe we’ve relied on that area too much and we need to look at other areas of our game as well, but I felt we did enough to win the game, we just didn’t finish it off today.”
Referee: Ben Rayner
Attendance: 800
Yellow Card: Garrod (Fylde)
Titans: Bustin (2T), Dunne (T), Minogue (1C)
Fylde: Sturgess (T), Hadfield (T), Smith (3P, C)
Titans: 15 Matt Minogue, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Harry Newborn, 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Williams 54), 7 Zak Poole (Capt), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 19 Tomos Richardson, 18 Alastair Donkor, 28 Matti Williams, 20 Jonny West.
Fylde: 15 Tom Carleton, 14 Henry Hadfield, 13 Joe Bedlow, 12 Scott Rawlings (Forster 72), 11 Tom Grimes (Lanigan 31), 10 Greg Smith, 9 Matt Sturgess, 1 Sam Kyle-Clay (Barrow 41), 16 Ben Gregory (Capt.), 3 Corey Bowker (Ashcroft 41), 4 Olli Parkinson, 5 Matt Garrod, 6 Harlan Corrie, 7 Ben O’Ryan (Partington 62), 8 David Fairbrother.
Replacements: 17 Zack Barrow, 18 Matt Ashcroft, 23 Charlie Partington, 20 Tom Forster, 19 Adam Lanigan.
Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons