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A poor performance saw Park throw away a lead and incur a disappointing loss on the Lancashire coast. The two fly halves, Harry Leonard and Greg Smith, traded early penalties for 3-3.

In the eleventh minute Park centre Dan Barnes spotted space on the left and charged through to give his side the lead, Leonard converting for 10-3.

However, that was largely cancelled out when Fylde winger Tom Grimes got in at the corner for 10-8 on 18 minutes.

Park were largely undone by their own handling errors and missed tackles and on the half hour Fylde centre Chris Briers was presented with an easy try to take a 13-10 lead for his side.


Park on the offensive

A second Smith penalty two minutes from half time made it 16-10 at the break.

Park looked to have shaken themselves at the start of the second half and regained the lead on 49 minutes with a powerful run by centre Henry Spencer, converted by Leonard for 19-17.

A third Smith penalty grabbed back the lead for the home side, but Leonard soon cancelled that out with one of his own.

Leading 20-19 into the last 20 minutes Park should have gone on to win against frankly average opposition but were let down by persistent errors.

Fylde winger Henry Hadfield took advantage to put Fylde 24-20 ahead on 64 minutes.

Park huffed and puffed but could not create a clear cut opportunity and then lost even the losing bonus point in the dying seconds when full back Tom Carleton danced through three attempted tackles to score for 29-20.

Rosslyn Park Head Coach Kieran Power said, “Even though we stifled most of Fylde’s possession at set piece, we didn't get the reward we deserved from that. When on the back foot in our own half we were making errors in judgment that only brought more pressure upon us. This ultimately was the story of the game, one of which we had control”.

Park will have to improve considerably on this performance when they entertain Loughborough at the Rock this coming Saturday (kick off 3:00PM)
Park: Weir; Marfo, Henderson, Barnes, Crane; Leonard; Crow; Nwakor, Vaughan-Edwards, Farrell; Spivey, MacPherson; Spencer, Taggart, Ovens.
Bench: Bellamy, Gratton, Thomas, Hutson, Dudman-Jones
Park scorers: Barnes (T), Spencer (T), Leonard (2P, 2C)

Next Saturday Park play at home to Loughbporough, kicking off at 3:00PM.

Charlie Addiman

Images: David E Whittam

October 2, 2017