Ionians gained an essential bonus point by scoring four tries but signally failed to prevent visitors Fylde from scoring five of their own to win the fixture and claim the four points on offer for a victory. A deplorable defensive display gifted the Lancastians the spoils for their first away win of the current campaign.
If there was a silver lining to this very black cloud it was that the final score was close enough to garner a losing bonus point, but it was definitely a case of five points lost not two points gained.
Ionians made a terrible start to the match, with the error of a wretched clearance kick compounded by some weak tackling to let the outstanding player of the day, Fylde’s David Fairbrother, in for the opening try. Greg Smith kicked the simple goal for a 7-point lead.
A mazy break from Dan Tai put Ionians in good field position, the pack took the ball on before Callum Irvine kicked cross field for flier Sam Wilson, who won the race to the loose ball for Ionians opening score. Lee Millar tagged on the conversion to tie the score.
The parity was short lived; Ionians reacted slowly at the kick-off allowing Fylde to regain the ball and they made light work of the home resistance as they struck down a virtually unprotected blind side for winger Armstrong to stroll in for the first of his three tries.
Millar kicked a penalty after Fylde erred at the breakdown and the home side went in front when Wilson added his second try, supporting Irvine after the off-half had produced a sublime faint to slip through the defence. Millar’s goal gave the hosts a 17 – 14 advantage with quarter of the match played.
It wasn’t long before the Lancastrians retook the lead; they threw long at a line-out, a productive source of possession all afternoon, then a couple of close range sorties into the home defence before attacking the vulnerable blind-side, which was once more poorly defended, allowing Armstrong to stroll in again.
The lucky lad completed his hat-trick just before half time when Fylde, unsurprisingly, attacked the short side where Armstrong was on hand to pick up from the back of the breakdown and waltz past three defenders and run over to score.
Ionians enjoyed a slice of luck at the restart with Aquile Smith showing some neat footballing skills when he kicked a dropped pass ahead, dribbling on and outpacing the chase to touchdown.
The home forwards then exercised a degree of control over proceedings and should have reaped greater reward from a 15m driving maul that took them to within touching distance of the Fylde line but were stopped when punished for allegedly collapsing. They continued to batter away until visiting prop Lewis misbehaved and was sent from the field to contemplate his actions.
Ionians drove home the advantage and went back in front courtesy of a penalty try awarded when Fylde were adjudged to have collapsed the scrum under pressure. Millar’s third success gave Ionians a 29 – 26 lead.
55 points were accrued in 50 minutes but the final half hour produced only a further five, crucially these went to Fylde. Led by the indefatigable Fairbrother, Fylde redoubled their efforts and dominated the final stages of the match.
The majority of the final quarter was conducted in the home half of the pitch and almost inevitably Fylde exploited the back of the line and Ionians inability to defend to put Rob Stewart over for the try. Simple and effective.
Ionians had 10 minutes to respond but hadn’t the wherewithal to prevent the visitors recording a deserved first away win of the season.