National League One

Fylde 37

THIS match was played in front of a bumper Christmas crowd of 1,250, bolstered by two coach loads of travelling fans from the Forest.

Cinderford went into the game as firm underdogs and they were unable to pull off a shock against their promotion-chasing opponents.

Cinderford started the game brightly enough and were rewarded for their efforts with a 12th minute try from Rory Teague, who breezed past his opposite number to score. Teague also converted.

Fylde gradually grew into the game and on 18 minutes a missed tackle out wide let in hooker Jonathan Rodddam for a try, converted by Richard Kenyon.

Kenyon kicked a 26th minute penalty, then Robert Stewart dived over the line from a powerfully driven maul. Kenyon converted again.

Five minutes before the interval Fylde winger Oliver Brennard – a player being monitored by England Sevens – showed a lightning burst of speed to outstrip the Cinderford backs and dot down for an unconverted score.

A Teague penalty cut the deficit to 20-10 at half-time.

A nasty injury to winger Gavin Cartmel allowed Fylde to give a debut to former Barbarian Oliver Vinney on 45 minutes.

Cinderford pinned the hosts back inside their own 22 for the next 10 minutes, moving the ball from one side of the park to the other, but could not find a way through the home side's solid defence.

When Fylde turned over the ball, full-back Chris Briers sprinted the length of the pitch to score under the posts. Kenyon's conversion made it 25-10.

Two further tries from Waywell and Paul Arnold put the game out of Cinderford's reach at 37-10.

The Foresters never gave up and on 79 minutes a superb cross-field kick from Teague found winger Lloyd Stapleton in space. He off-loaded to replacement full-back Danny Trigg, who dived over in the corner for a try.

Cinderford attacked again from the restart and Stapleton gathered another accurate cross-field kick from Teague. This time, the winger caught the ball and twisted out of the tackle in one movement for a deserved try, converted by Teague.

Cinderford: Mike Wilcox (Danny Trigg 68), Lloyd Stapleton, Simeon James, Dewi Scourfield, Kai Done, Rory Teague, Danny Pointon (Ben Draper 61), Joe Smart (Lee Fortey 69), Tom Bozzard (Sam Wilkes 61), Tom Heard, Ben West, Ed King, Adam Nicholls (capt, Jake Kitson 61), Will Foden, George Evans.