HUDDERSFIELD RU competed well but still came away beaten 24-14 in their latest National League clash at Fylde – their 10th straight defeat leaving them third from bottom of National North II and in the relegation zone.

It was Huddersfield’s first game of any description since December 12, but they quickly shook off any rustiness and took the lead with the first of three penalties from Chris Johnson after 11 minutes, the fly-half having previously missed.

And with Huddersfield enjoying possession they extended their lead when Nick Sharpe, playing at lock in place of the unavailable Gavin Rhodes, found himself in space and knocked over one tackler, barged off another and charged over the line.

Johnson missed the conversion but Huddersfield were 8-0 up.

But then Fylde got into the game when lively centre Alex Hurst broke through some weak midfield defence to score from 35 yards out, fly-half Tom Barlow converting easily.

Huddersfield failed to take advantage of Fylde losing lock Nick King to the sin-bin, and were made to pay just before the break, when Hurst again powered through some poor tackling to repeat his earlier try, and with Barlow again converting and tacking on an injury-time penalty, Fylde had turned an 8-0 deficit into a 17-8 half-time lead.

The second half was very scrappy with errors from both sides and indiscipline causing the referee to blow constantly.

Fylde dominated the third quarter, but Johnson reduced Huddersfield’s deficit with his second penalty after 48 minutes, but then the seasiders scored the crucial try when a driving maul had the visitors on the backfoot, and prop Andrew Irving got the all important touchdown.