Tarleton beaten by Fleetwood

Tarleton Firsts travelled to Fleetwood to try and get back to winning ways and still with over five players out through injury it was an even younger side out than usual with three colts in the squad.

The match started in glorious sunshine and Tarleton almost took the initiative after winning a penalty as Chris Gordon was elbowed repeatedly in the back of the neck whilst leading a maul. The penalty kick sailed wide of the uprights and Fleetwood cleared their lines.

From the line out a good take and pass off the top from Tom Eckersley saw the ball find Aiden Wilkins who had joined the line from full back, he made good yards and slipped a pass to the supporting Jack Skofic who rounded the last Fleetwood defender to score behind the posts. The conversion was good and Tarleton led 7-0 after 9 minutes.
 
Tarleton came at Fleetwood again from the re-start when a great run by the returning Will Parker but he was stopped on the 5mtr line and the full back cleared to the half way line. The resulting line out was lost by Tarleton and the ball was flipped out wide very quickly by Fleetwood and their No. 14 kicked on his after burners and left the Tarleton defence for dead as he scored under the posts. The conversion levelled the scores at 7-7.

Fleetwood then upped the pace of their game and were passing the ball out of the tackle on all occasions and Tarleton were chasing shadows and having to defend for long periods.
 
Another lost line out ceded possession to Fleetwood and they again moved the ball wide and created holes in the Tarleton defence which was exploited by one of the Fleetwood props who crashed over to score. The conversion was made and Fleetwood led by 14 points to 7 which was how it stayed until half time.
 
Tarleton had the advantage of the wind in the second half but didn’t really make use of it and Fleetwood having to run the ball out instead of kicking looked threatening with the ball in hand.
 
The remainder of the second half saw Tarleton pressing but either losing the ball in the tackle, kicking down the throat of the Fleetwood full back or becoming isolated. These all gave possession to Fleetwood who made good use of it scoring a further three tries which were all converted before the final whistle went with the score at 35-7 to Fleetwood.
 
This position that Tarleton find themselves in is reminiscent of their first season in North Lancs 1 where they struggled at first and had to find a way of playing that suited the players that they had in the squad. They also had to put in high tackle counts which they are doing this season as well.