The highlight, without doubt, was the brilliant opportunism of Fylde winger Nick Royle who scored all his sides' four tries. His last try was just before the close of the game and gave Fylde a very useful bonus point. Leicester Lions came with a much weakened backline and it showed as they hardly threatened the Fylde defence all game. However, the Lions' pack, and particularly their front five, were very competitive and posed a number of problems for the home forwards. The game kicked off on yet another pleasant autumn afternoon at the Woodlands and in front of a good, noisy crowd. Fylde took early control and looked in sharp form. A couple of early penalties given away by an under pressure Lions defence gave the home side good field position. A break on 6 minutes by centre Dave Cunliffe and pass to Daniel Fluker set the winger away but he lost control of the ball in the tackle. Leicester got into the Fylde half and a charge down of John Armstrong's clearance kick on 10 minutes caused some alarm in the home defence. Back in the Lions' half on 13 minutes a move from the visiting backs broke down. Fylde winger Nick Royle kicked on the loose ball 35m out and was in a race with Lions fullback Chris Woods. Woods seemed more concerned to block off Royle's run illegally but somehow the Fylde winger got sufficient downward pressure for referee Liddell to award the try. John Armstrong converted from in front of the posts to give his side a 7-0 lead. The Fylde line-out was having mixed success but the Lions could take little advantage of considerable ball won by the impressive lock Junior Falalilo. The Fylde scrummage looked to have real early dominance but referee Liddell was already struggling to control this area of the match. He allowed the front rows to engage too early and delays in the put-in by their scrum-half Dan Bailey led to a succession of penalties against the home side as they attempted to exercise this superiority. The referee's interpretation of the scrummage negated a very real Fylde advantage and it was a source of dissention right through the game. Fylde soldiered on with much of the possession and on 26 minutes their No 8 Dave Muckalt made one of a succession of powerful breaks from the base of a scrum. Leicester open side flanker Francis Nock killed the ball at the tackle in front of the posts and was yellow carded for his trouble. John Armstrong converted the easy penalty and Fylde were 10-0 in front. Although John Armstrong moved the ball to his three quarters regularly, the Lions defence tackled well to cut down thrusts from centres Paul Reeves and Dave Cunliffe. However, the Lions backs strayed offside on 39 minutes and John Armstrong extended his side's lead. But they immediately turn gave away a foolish penalty well inside their own half and flyhalf Anthony Lintern converted the subsequent penalty to make the half-time score 13-3 to Fylde. An interesting tactical change at the break saw young England U18 loose head prop Adam Lewis make his senior league debut for Fylde, replacing Sam Simpson. But Leicester Lions took control of the early part of the 2nd half. Strong rucking by their forwards was interfered with by a Fylde player and Anthony Lintern had a longish but straight penalty kick to reduce the deficit once more. Unfortunately for the tall no 10 it drifted wide. On 51 minutes Leicester's experienced, tough Kiwi tighthead prop Kenni Barrett decided to test out the mettle of the youngster Lewis with some strong arm stuff as the scrum formed. Lewis was having none of it and gave as good as he got. Referee Liddell sent both of to cool their heels in the sinbin. The Fylde coaches looked rather pleased that their young charge was prepared to stand his ground following such provocation. Fylde had conceded the penalty in front of the posts and 35 metres out. Surprisingly, Lintern missed the straightforward kick. A couple of minutes later was the game's conclusive moment. Fylde's skipper Paul Newton from the halfway line put in a perfect box kick down the right touchline. The Leicester defenders fatally let the ball bounce. Fylde winger Nick Royle raced up and snapped up the favourable bounce to race the last 20 metres for a try behind the posts. It was pure opportunism and typical of the arch poacher that Royle has become. Armstrong converted easily and Fylde had a decisive 20-3 lead. In another spat between the Fylde players and the officials, centre Paul Reeves, who has a very good disciplinary record, was sinbinned for speaking his mind about a decision. At this stage Fylde were down to 13 men and the Lions to 14. Leicester's flyhalf Lintern converted the penalty on 55 minutes to reduce the deficit to 6-20. Fylde pressed on inside the Lions' half and on 60 minutes the ball was moved to John Armstrong who grubber kicked through to the left corner. Nick Royle had come well off his right wing and raced past the struggling defenders to dive on the ball for his third try. Armstrong's attempted conversion failed but his side was clear with a 25-6 lead. Fylde continued to press for a fourth try and the consequential bonus point. Their forwards tried a number of drives near the Lions' line but these were repelled. In a belated move the referee called the front rows together to lecture them on scummaging. Many experienced observers suggested that if he had dome this in the first five minutes then he would have saved himself and everyone else much subsequent trouble. In the last minute of ordinary time replacement flanker Daniel Waller secured turnover ball 30 metres out on their left. The ball was moved right through the three quarters until it reached winger Royle. He looked up to see West Indian international Nigel Arismendez facing him. He veered right and shot past him on the outside although having very little space to work with and, to the home crowds' joy, he dived over in the corner for his and Fylde's fourth try. The game finished shortly afterwards. Fylde's legendary winger Mark Preston looked on from the Clubhouse at a try scorer with a strike record even better than his outstanding performance for the Club of 98 tries in 131 appearances. More importantly, Fylde showed patience and self-control in difficult circumstances given the officiating. Head Coach Stuart Connell said: "I was very pleased with our performance. At times last season we would have lost our cool in a similar situation. But the guys got on with it and battled through to the end to get the important bonus point." Fylde moved up two places to 5th in an increasingly tight N3N division. - The Man of the Match Award went to Nick Royle.
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