Another cracker at the Avenue, in front of a good-sized crowd, finished with Fylde taking 5 points back over the Pennines.

Dale opened the scoring when Fylde lost the ball on their 22, and Ollie Riddiough, seeing the blind side was weakly defended, set up Alfie Weston for a try. Archie Haddon converted. Fylde then countered with good handling and movement which resulted in an unconverted try for Lewis Quinn. Harry Bullough and Joe Fawcett worked hard to put Bradley Viner away. Haddon added the conversion and extended Dale’s lead with a penalty. Good handling and offloading saw Quinn grabbing his second try which Dan Cassidy converted. Poor discipline by Wharfedale gave the visitors plenty of possession and territory. Fylde then drew level with a try from Ben Walton, and Cassidy’s conversion took them into the lead. Haddon regained the lead from the tee. Dale tried to run the ball from the restart, but a mistake led to a Fylde scrum. The Fylde scrum was driven back, and Dale had the ball. A delicate chip from Max Bell was regathered by Harry Bullough. Unfortunately, Harry Bullough bungled a well-weighted pass that could have resulted in a try, destroying the chance of a score. Oh, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Instead, Fylde scored a try on the stroke of halftime with James Sutcliffe touching down for a converted try.

More tries came in the second half. Sam Dickinson crossed for an unconverted try for Dale. This was after a superb scrum by Dale could have been rewarded with a penalty try. Will Hunt grabbed a converted try for the visitors. Wharfedale then dominated play for some time. Viner grabbed his second for Dale which Haddon converted. Cassidy landed a penalty for Fylde.

Another great catch and drive by the Green Machine drove Fylde back 20 metres. After the maul collapsed the move carried on and Sam Dickinson went over for his second and the conversion gave Dale a 3-point lead. Alex Clayton scored the winning converted try for Fylde.

There were many things to be positive about on this warm autumn afternoon at the Avenue. The forwards again had the upper hand at scrum time and were unlucky not to have been awarded more penalties. The back division put together some fine flowing rugby and created many chances to score. If there is a negative, there usually is, it could be the kicking game. Not just the exit strategy but kicking the ball to the fast and effective Fylde backs and allowing them to run in space and create room around the edge. A disappointing end left players and supporters downbeat but this should be part of a learning curve and lead to better things in the lead up to the Christmas break.

Next Saturday see Wharfedale travel to Chanterlands Avenue to take on Hull.

Wharfedale: Haddon, Cherry, Viner, Bullough, Weston, M. Bell (W. Bell 80), Riddiough (Kaup-Samuels 65), Dickinson (Meehan 80), Stockdale, Armstrong, Borrill, Hedgley (c), Tweedale (Ward 24, Tweedale 34, Ward 65), Wills, Fawcett