Fylde's last chance of pressing the leading promotion contenders in National Three (North) slipped disappointingly away as they lost by 10-15 at Loughborough Students. Each team scored two tries but a successful penalty and conversion kick by the Students' excellent fullback Grant Pointer made the difference.

Fylde started the game in the best possible way. It was only two minutes into the match when a fluent Fylde attack worked space for Nick Royle and the always dangerous winger dived into the right corner for a fine try. Fly-half Steve Nutt's attempted conversion kick went wide.

The match soon settled into a consistent pattern, with the Students dominating possession and territory. Throughout the 80 minutes Loughborough's well drilled and talented forwards harassed the Fylde eight and demonstrated better technique in tight and loose exchanges. The Students drew level on 20 minutes when Grant Pointer finished off a smart move with a try following a sustained period of pressure. He converted his own try and added a penalty kick six minutes later to extend the lead to 10-5.

Fylde hit back, rather against the run of play, on 32 minutes when N3N leading try scorer Oliver Brennand scored a fine try in the left corner, his 16th of the season. Once again, Nutt's attempted conversion from the touchline drifted wide but the scores were now even at 10-all. It stayed that way until the half-time interval.

The 2nd half was much the same as the 1st. Loughborough dominated and despite a lot of huff and puff from the visitors they continued to make far too many basic errors. Their cause wasn't helped by the sinbinning of prop Andrew Irving after 43 minutes. On 60 minutes the Students notched their coup de grace when England Students cap Pointer once again scored a try and even though he was unable to convert it he had scored all his side's points. Fylde introduced their replacements, including 18 years old Fylde Colt and Irish U'18s international prop Kieran Brookes, but to little effect. The visitors couldn't be faulted for effort but ultimately they weren't able to secure enough quality possession for their dangerous backs.

This was a deserved win for the Students who will surely continue to cause trouble to the leading clubs in the division. Meanwhile there will be some heart searching for Fylde's rugby management and playing squad as they look to restoring pride for the rest of this season and beyond to the 2009/10 campaign. Their form away from the Woodlands has been particularly woeful with two wins and five defeats.

Fylde Director of Rugby Mark Nelson said: "This result effectively kills our season. Back in September I genuinely thought we had a squad capable of winning promotion from this division. But our away form has been unacceptable with four defeats by five points or less. We simply have been unable to finish off opponents in close contests.

"Some times your kids mess up but you still love them. Just because the players have been shown not to be good enough this season doesn't mean that I'm not concerned about them. No one can question the effort they've put into matches. I'll be sending them out for our remaining games telling them to express themselves and enjoy their rugby. The pressure on them will principally come from concerns about their own performance."