Cinderford 24 Fylde 21

National League One

CINDERFORD centre Chris Eden landed his fourth penalty with the last kick of the match to earn his team a dramatic and much-needed victory over Fylde.

The result secured back-to-back victories for the Foresters for the first time this season and saw them lift themselves off the bottom of the table; a position they’d occupied since November.

Although the gap between Cinderford and National League One safety remains 11 points after Loughborough Students also won, the momentum will be a welcome boost going into another week off league duty.

Both sides missed out on early scoring opportunities and twenty minutes had been played when Fylde opened their account with try from winger Oli Brennand, converted by Tom Morton.

Cinderford responded with Eden’s first penalty and he then converted a try from Josh Adams, who benefited from a fine cross-field kick by Callum Sheedy.

The visitors were pressing forward as half-time approached but Sam Hanks intercepted, and after an exchange of passes Sheedy raced clear to score an unconverted try.

Brennand was soon over for his second try as the second-half got underway, with Morton converting.

Eden put over his second penalty to make it 18-14 after 48 minutes, but the visitors regained the lead when Chris Briers touched down, with Morton again adding the conversion.

A third successful kick from Eden then levelled up the scores and set up a tense finish to the match.

Cinderford had it all to do in the closing stages but one last effort earned them a penalty and allowed Eden to clinch at the death.

Cinderford: Mike Wilcox (capt), Harrison Yorke, Sam Hanks, Chris Eden, Josh Adams, Callum Sheedy, Dan Pointon, Derrick Appiah, Tom Bozzard, Elliot Booley, Ed King, Milo Reynolds, Roger Birkin, George Mills, Matt Lane.

Replacements: Chris Bundy, Dan Keat, Marcus Brown, Adam Balding, Alex Frame.