I went home, disconsolate, after another underwhelming performance and defeat against a Fylde side, who themselves are failing to reach the heights of recent seasons.
I was greeted with the usual; “How has it gone?”
“Lost again”
“They aren’t doing very well; I don’t know why you bother”.
It’s what you expect from someone with no interest or understanding of sport.
Sue does have an interest in “Strictly” so with nothing else to do I sat down to watch and, hopefully, gain some insight or inspiration. Nothing. Not a jot, just a back- slapping luvvyfest of flat-footed no hopers morphing into Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.
Ionians are seemingly the polar opposite, previously peerless at the Paso Doble, now reduced to line dancers with two left feet. Fylde are much nearer to Blackpool, choreographically, metaphorically as well as geographically, than I’s at the moment.
Anyway, mine not to reason why, mine just to shrug and sigh, mine left to do the scri(be). On with a volley of words; let’s go for eight hundred.
It was a scrappy opening to what turned out to be a scrappy game, punctuated by a ludicrous penalty count. It transpired Mr Jones was only satisfied with contact between the navel and the knee, something neither side came to appreciate throughout the entire 80 minutes.
Fylde put the first of many such awards into touch 5m from the home line. Ionians looked to have dealt with the threat, only to concede another penalty and the visitors repeated the move, this time driving over the line for a try for Ben Gregory. Fylde took the lead, 0-5, after 10 minutes.
Ionians looked to cut the deficit with a long range penalty, which fell just short, but they were soon into the Fylde 22 and were awarded a penalty following a scrum infringement. Ionians went for the corner and a clean catch set them off in search of the line. Fylde were punished for illegally stopping the drive and Mr Jones went to the posts and Toby Harrison to the bin. Ionians took the lead, 7-5, with 18 minutes gone.
Greg Smith snatched the lead back with a penalty goal and Fylde extended their advantage when another penalty pushed the hosts back into their 22. Fylde swept the ball from the resulting line-out sweetly across to Sam Carleton to cross in the corner. Smith added the extras and the Lytham lads led 7-15 after the half hour.
Fylde lost a second player to the bin, when Oliver Parkinson was dispatched for foul play, but Ionians failed to make anything of the advantage and the score stood, as both sides went in for oranges.
Ionians made an encouraging start to the second half. Lively winger, Nathan Hill, weaved his way through the Fylde defence and as the cover closed in popped a pass to Sam Wilson to put the try on a plate. Lewis Minikin struck a beauty from the touchline to pull the score back to within a point, within a minute of the re-start.
The Lancastrians responded by pinning Ionians back into their 22, after struggling to execute a clearance they eventually managed to clear up field.
Ionians rang the changes and introduced Manoa Wacokecoke into the centres; it was a less than an auspicious debut, lasting less than a minute, before he was yellow carded for an apparent unacceptable tackle.
Fylde didn’t show Ionians the same largesse as the hosts had shown them and made their advantage tell straight away. They produced a flowing passage of play which swept the ball across field and on to Carleton to bag his second, Smith added the goal for Fylde to go 14-22 in front with 50 minutes played.
The visitors were now increasingly influential, helped by a surfeit of penalty awards. They again went to the corner and after several phases Gregory wriggled over for his second and the bonus point try.
There was still fifteen minutes left, plenty of time for Ionians to rally. Fylde had other ideas and they grabbed another try within a minute to take the game beyond Ionians. The home team were slow to re-act to swift movement from the Fylde mid-field, who broke through to set the gangly Tom Burrow away to the line. It was only for a couple of minutes, but it was vintage stuff from Fylde, who now sat comfortably, leading 14-36.
Ionians did work their way into the red zone and as they exerted pressure forced a deliberate knock- on from Tom Forster. A yellow card followed, the fourth in a game of little incident, to give Ionians one last opportunity. They couldn’t take it and Fylde held out to the final whistle.
Next week Ionians travel to Sheffield; once more into the breach. That’s it, 800 words on…
I realised that there is an omission; there is no mention of the outstanding contribution from purple patch Powell. This is not to say several others didn't catch the eye, but Lucas was, well, outstanding! Well done that man.