Almost…But Not Quite

Unusually at Oldham, conditions were perfect and the crowd were anticipating some good running rugby.

Oldham came out of the blocks well and after only 3 minutes a kick into the corner gave their winger a touch down for an early lead. 5-0
Oldham continued to dominate with their heavier more experienced forwards driving the Fleetwood pack backwards and monopolising possession. Slowly Fleetwood started to gain a foothold and put together some good phases of play. James Lilley with a trademark break through the centre of a ruck took the green and golds close but a penalty to Oldham for holding on relieved the pressure.
On 33 minutes a break by Oldham down Fleetwood’s right flank saw them create a 2 on 1 resulting in a converted try for their winger. 12-0
Just on half time good work down the left by Jamie Mayall, Tom Evans, Will Gair and Elliott Williams put Full Back Bobby Jones in under the posts for a try converted by Jamie Mayall. Half Time 12-7.

The second half began with Fleetwood putting Oldham under a lot of pressure. Oldham’s defence was ferocious but after conceding a number of penalties in their own 22, the referee lost patience and yellow carded the Oldham 6. Oldham played sensible rugby and used their forwards to pick and drive and gained a lot of territory. They lost possession in the Fleetwood 22, the ball was fed to Elliott Williams who made a great break down the right wing and then fed Bobby Jones on the inside to score under the posts. Jamie Mayall added the extras. 12-14.
With about 15 minutes left Fleetwood conceded a penalty about 30metres out and Oldham converted to regain the lead.15-14 Fleetwood then took control of possession but continually tried to crash the ball through the resolute Oldham forwards who had defended well all game. Perhaps if we had trusted the backs a little more, we may have had better results.
The last 5 minutes saw Fleetwood camped in the Oldham 22. Again, a series of penalties saw the Referee yellow card the Oldham hooker. With time almost up Rob Meekins made a dart for the line. He has the victim of a high tackle, went to ground, got up and touched the ball down for what the Fleetwood fans thought was the winning try. However, the Referee saw things differently and said that Rob had not released the ball after the tackle and so gave us a penalty about 15metres from the touchline. Jamie Mayall took the kick that could have won the game for us but unfortunately pulled it wide.

A close-run thing and Fleetwood were unlucky to come away with nothing to show for their efforts. They will feel disappointed but there are plenty of positives to build on for the future.

Head Coach, Dan Orwin said after the game: “I’m really proud of the lads’ resilience after coming back from 12-0 down, and of their discipline overall. Our penalty count was low. This is something we’ve worked hard on. I think we’ll be disappointed when we watch the video back, that we made some poor decisions in attack. We didn’t move their big pack around enough, especially when they were clearly fatigued in the 2nd half. We must recognise when we need to shift the ball wide quickly, and we need to back ourselves to execute. We put ourselves in a really good position to win the game in the last few minutes. We were camped in their 22, and Oldham’s discipline was failing. We got ourselves a penalty kick to win, but unfortunately couldn’t make it count. Overall, lots of positives, and we have some very young players in our squad. We’re already looking forward to next week, where we face Ormskirk at home. Please get down to support the boys and enjoy the clubs ‘hospitality. We have live music after the game, with John Banks performing.”

“Our 2nd Team gave Fylde Vandals a good game, particularly in the first half, but dropped off in the second half. As always, any players (new or old) are invited to get in touch if they want to play for the club. We have great facilities, and a great social calendar. Our 2nd Team are away at Lostock next Saturday. Please contact dorwin@uclan.ac.uk if you are interested in playing for Fleetwood.”

Match report by Steve Doherty