Fylde Wanderers entertained high flying Macclesfield Lions at the Woodlands on Saturday, 31st January and edged to a 12-11 victory in a closely fought contest.

Fylde knew from their previous two encounters that victory would be tough to secure and the game reflected this. Fylde opened strongly and for long spells in the first 40 minutes were in the ascendancy. However, all the pressure didn't turn to points and frustration crept into Fylde's game which gave Macclesfield renewed vigour. This turned to points when they slotted a penalty chance to take a 3 point lead into the half time break.

The early exchanges in the second half continued to see Macc in the acendancy with their seasoned front row causing problems and giving lots of ball to their strong running centres. At this point the Wanderers rang the changes, some forced through the departure of the hard working Mark Briggs with a serious knee injury to be replaced by David Rees, returning after a long lay off through injury. At the same time Jonny Wild replaced Andrew Darlington and Matt Gargett replaced Spencer Brennand.

As is often the case, no sooner had Fylde committed all their subs when winger Matt Hughes pulled up with a trapped nerve in his lower back making him a virtual spectator for the remainder of the game. However, Macc extended their lead shortly after when they scored a try wide on the right when they turned over Wanderers ball and counter attacked quickly and to great effect. With the clock ticking down Macc must have thought that they had secured the victory when they extended their lead to 11 points when they converted a penalty chance.

However, the Wanderers would not lie down and with 15 minutes to go and with Jonny Wild making an impact as a key ball carrier they struck back when the excellent Ben Hall fed Mark Edwards who scored a fine try. This led to a relentless onslaught from Fylde and Matt Gargett, who was making up for many weeks out with some strong runs, linked up with Ryan Miemczyk and following a classic loop move Gargett sped away to score. Hall stroked the conversion over to put Wanderers into the lead.

Macc came back and with the clock ticking down were awarded a penalty about 35 meters out. Luckily for Wanderers they missed the difficult chance and Wanderers closed out the game for a stunning victory. Fylde's team effort was supreme and earned them the victory but player of the day was Ben Hall who was a handful all day and drove the team to victory.

Fylde: Miemczyk; Hughes, Ward, Carson, BrennandS (replaced by Gargett 60 mins); Edwards, Hall; Scott, Campbell, Darlington (replaced by Wild 55m), Rosen, Thompson, Briggs (replaced by Rees 58m), Atkinson (c).