Vale made an excellent start in terrible conditions with heavy rain being hurled horizontally across the pitch by a cold wind. Fylde were initially pushed back in the opening ten minutes due to some excellent driving play from the Vale's forwards.

Unfortunately an inaccurate pass on Vale's ten metre line was eagerly snapped up by Fylde in the build up to their opening converted try in the eleventh minute. Shortly after Ryan Needham came on to replace Sam Hoare and in the twenty first minute the Vale fell further behind when a tackle was missed in midfield. This error occurred during an encouraging period of rugby from the Vale with their lively back row well to the fore.

Vale's resilience improved as their lines of communication tightened up but occasionally too many players committed themselves to rucks. A slick handling move by Fylde's dangerous threequarters resulted in a converted try in the thirty fourth minute.

A solid Vale scrum was competitive throughout but with prop Ryan Wood having to play at hooker, odd problems were encountered at the line outs. Tim Rogers replaced Wayne Blyth but the Vale continued to play on the front foot whenever possible. Ryan Needham nicked the ball from a dangerous maul close to his goal line and Dan Rainford led from the front with some hard grafting work in the loose.

As the half drew to a close the players and supporters had to endure a fierce hailstone shower that lasted five minutes. In a brief weather window Fylde completed their scoring with a well constructed try that involved their back row and threequarters working in harmony in the thirty seventh minute.

There was no shelter from the elements at the interval and Vale's task was made even harder when Joe Wallbank was sent to the sin bin after four minutes had elapsed. Injuries at various time during the second forty to Tom Cvijanovic, Dan Rainford, Danny Lin and Josh Whyke, late in the game, resulted in a gallant Vale side playing out the contest with only fourteen on the field.

Courageous tackles were made by debutant Tim Rogers, who stopped his opposite number dead in his tracks with a comprehensive tackle, and Jordan Fearns who had crossed from right wing to the left flank to halt a dangerous attack.

All the Vale players dug deep to ensure that their line was fully protected and not crossed again by a Fylde side that contained three ex or current first team players.

Team manager, Tony Gilmour, was very pleased with the squads performance and after the game both the referee and Fylde players were very complimentary of their efforts. Tony said the spirit was very high within the squad and he hoped that if a settled side could be established ahead of the second half of the season, when the Premier League moves to a conference format, then the Vale's fortunes should improve.

Part one of the Premier League is notoriously difficult and undoubtedly it has been difficult to maintain morale in the face of some horrendous defeats, but all the players involved have refused to throw in the towel; they continue to walk tall and there are positive signs that a corner has been turned, although there are three demanding games to be played before the cut-off point is reached.

Vale 2: A Yates, R Wood, R Pillow; D Rainford (Capt), S V Hoare; T Cvijanovic, D Lin, J Wallbank; J Whyke, N Walker; W Blyth, K Doyle, J Harrison, J Fearns; J Antcliffe. Replacements: R Needham, T Rogers, E Hatton.