Sedgley Park coach Steve Hazzelby labelled his side’s top-of-the-table triumph against Fylde as ‘immense’.

The Tigers won 30-20 at home against the unbeaten National Two North leaders to leapfrog them at the top and maintain their own 100-per-cent start.

Hazzelby said: “Both teams were unbeaten and expectations were high for a close, physical encounter and so it turned out.

“Conditions on the day were wet and windy, making a fast, open game difficult and this would be a story of who could look after the ball the better and play in the right areas of the pitch.

“This was an immense performance from the whole squad from 1-20 and has taken us to the top of the league and still unbeaten.

“It is hard to pick out any one player because of the effort, but scrum-half Jacob Tansey was awarded man of the match for his overall performance and accurate kicking game.”

Sedgley started well with great tempo and continuity looking to test Fylde ‘s defences at every opportunity and were rewarded with a try for second-row Connor James, who crashed over after great driving play from the forwards. Steve Collins added the conversion to make it 7-0 inside five minutes.

However, Fylde showed how good their attack is with a try for their left winger who broke through the defensive line and touched down on the right after 11 minutes but they missed the conversion to level the scores.

They took the lead 12 minutes later with a well-taken penalty, but Sedgley hit back almost immediately with a penalty from Collins putting them 10-8 up going into the last 10 minutes of the half.

But it was the away team who went into the interval ahead with a 13-10 lead after a try for their hooker, who collected a lovely kick pass and touched down in the top left-hand corner.

The second half saw the hosts playing up the hill and they knew they would have to play rugby in their half by kicking for territory, turning the visitors around and trying to keep them pinned down with aggressive defence and fast line speed.

And they needed to keep the penalty count down which would not give Fylde the opportunity to relieve pressure.

Sedgley started well with a second penalty for Collins levelling the scores at 13-13 on 53 minutes.

Then, a wonderful passage of play from the forwards, who peppered the Fylde line with drive after drive, was rewarded with a penalty try after the visitors kept collapsing the maul.

Collins added the conversion to make it 20-13 with 20 minutes to go.

However, Fylde are a team who run the ball at every opportunity and a quick tap penalty from their centre saw him catch Tigers flat-footed and he raced through beating defenders to touch down near the posts.

They added the conversion and were now firmly back in the contest at 20-20.

The reaction from Sedgley was almost immediate with a third penalty for Collins making it 23-20 with 15 minutes to go and they secured victory in the last five minutes with a well-taken ‘pick and go’ try for hooker Danny Maher before Collins kept his 100-per-cent kicking record up to seal a four-point win ahead of another home clash with Tynedale on Saturday.