Rotherham Titans put in a tremendous shift away at league leaders Fylde, before eventually coming up agonisingly short in a 30-23 defeat on a wet afternoon in the North West.
Titans crossed the whitewash twice through Charlie Capps and Callum Bustin, with Lloyd Hayes adding 13 points from the tee.
For Rotherham to be so disappointed at not getting what would have arguably been a deserved win, shows just how well they competed, particularly in the second half where most of the action took place in the Fylde half.
Additionally, had Titans not made a couple of late errors, alongside some unfortunate on-field calls which went against them, the South Yorkshire side could well have been celebrating at the end.
Equally and to be fair to Fylde, their first half attacking display coupled with their second half resilience in defence could also be argued they too deserved the spoils.
The game itself was played for large parts in a depressing drizzle, but the hosts brightened up the afternoon with at times some scintillating rugby from their backline; whilst Roth too played some decent rugby and once again showed their prowess up front.
Indeed it was Roth who scored first through a Lloyd Hayes penalty, before Fylde centre Sam Stott barged his way over for the first try, showing great strength on route. Greg Smith converted.
Roth narrowed the gap when Hayes added a second penalty soon after, but on 18 minutes Fylde full back Jordan Dorrington finished off a really nice backs move to dot down for an unconverted try.
Undeterred, Roth remained calm in their approach and worked the ball downfield, before loosehead prop Charlie Capps picked up from the base and dotted down to finish off an excellent period from the Rotherham pack. Lloyd Hayes tagged on the extras to give Roth a 13-12 lead.
Smith and Hayes then traded penalties before on the stroke of half time Titans Jack Taylor was yellow carded for being offside.
In the moments that followed Roth switched-off for a moment and Fylde took a quick-tap and fed the ball to Jordan Dorrington who darted over in the corner. Smith missed the conversion and the sides went in for the oranges with Fylde holding a 20-16 lead.
Misfortune for Rotherham led to the next score which came for Fylde on 54 minutes.
Firstly from a ruck the ball was spat out and fell kindly for the hosts who chipped on downfield. The ball then bounced awkwardly as Roth tried to gather; from there Fylde gathered and Connor Wilkinson went over for a converted try.
From this point on in the game it was pretty much all Rotherham and they enjoyed lots of territory and possession.
Just before the hour mark a powerful driving maul from Roth clattered the hosts backwards at pace for what appeared to be a nice try for the forwards. Unfortunately for them the referee deemed a technical infringement had occurred and the try wasn’t awarded.
Roth then set-up another opportunity with a 5-metre line out, but the throw was adjudged to not have been straight.
Finally Roth did get over for a try when another powerful driving maul went over from around 10 metres; Callum Bustin broke off just before the line to score. Hayes converted nicely to reduce the arrears to 27-23.
Close to the final whistle Smith added his second penalty for the hosts; however, as Roth tried to snatch a late draw they turned over possession inside the Fylde 22 and the ball was hurriedly kicked-off the field to end a pulsating contest.
Speaking after the game Titans head coach, Gary Pearce said:
“We can’t fault the lads for effort, they were absolutely tremendous and as we know it’s always a difficult place to come and play.
“I thought in the second half we were completely all over them and for whatever reason we seemed to fall foul on a few decisions.
“It was puzzling at times because we were so dominant in certain areas, but I am so proud of the lads because they have absolutely given everything and that’s all we can ask.
“Yes we can be better, we lost two or three line outs from 5 metres and that didn’t help, but at the end of the day the boys were outstanding.
“We are so frustrated though, we should have at least drawn the game and maybe even won it.
“At the end they took Gaz Denman off the ball under the sticks and it’s difficult to understand how no one sees that and that’s another opportunity to score that was denied us.
“However, we can take some positives and the lads deserve a lot of credit. Let’s face it, we’ve come to a side that’s top of the league and hoping to go into National 1 and we’ve come here and outplayed them.”
Referee: Llyr Ap Geraint-Roberts
Attendance: 525
Yellow Card: Taylor (Titans)
Titans: Capps (T), Bustin (T), Hayes (3P, 2C)
Fylde: Dorrington (2T), Stott (T), Wilkinson (T), Smith (2P, 2C)
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Taylor (Tucker 70), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Callum Bustin, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Connor Dever, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 70), 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 48), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 28) (Capps 66), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Allan (Cambier 72), 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Cade Cambier, 19 Kai Ramrattan, 20 George Tucker.
Fylde: 15 Jordan Dorrington, 14 Adam Lanigan, 13 Connor Wilkinson, 12 Sam Stott, 11 Tom Grimes (Rawlings 40), 10 Greg Smith, 9 Cole Potts, 1 Zach Barrow (Bell 50), 2 Ben Gregory (Capt.), 3 Corey Bowker (Higgins 66), 4 Olli Parkinson, 5 Matt Garrod (Corrie 33), 6 Toby Harrison (Garrod 72), 7 Henry Higginson, 8 David Fairbrother.
Replacements: 16 Patreece Bell, 17 Joe Higgins, 18 Harlan Corrie, 19 Ben Turner, 20 Scott Rawlings.
