Fylde’s title fight is over admits Briers
NEWS EXTRA
FYLDE joint head coach Chris Briers has conceded the National Two North title to Sedgley Park and rues what could have been this season.
Briers' side got back to winning ways last weekend with a 45-14 victory over Sheffield after dropping points in recent weeks in a 23-12 defeat to Tynedale and a 19-19 draw against Sedgley.
Briers was relieved to get the win but says there is still room for improvement. “We were pleased with the result but there were parts of the performance we weren't happy with,” he said.
“It was convincing in terms of the scoreline, but there were a few things we were frustrated with. We were rusty in a few areas and were making mistakes we shouldn't have made.
“We ended up losing the second half after having such a decent start in the first half.
“We took a huge amount of pride and confidence from the Sedgley game, so in some ways we were upbeat and positive about the previous game. It's always good to get back to winning ways again. We were frustrated at a few things but that's just down to our own standards at the end of the day.”
Fylde came into this weekend trailing league leaders Sedgley Park by 12 points with a game in hand and Briers feels the title has just escaped their grasp.
“Sedgley have to slip up and the way they're playing this season, it's unlikely they will do it enough times for us to catch them,” said Briers.
“We said in the group that we want to make sure we keep the pressure on until the end of the season and focus on ourselves.
“Last year towards the end of the season, we let ourselves down in the last few games which didn't reflect how we were operating as a squad.
“We knew that we had the capabilities of being up there. We improved our squad over the summer, so we certainly expected to be up here at the back end of the season.”
