The infamous "training pitch" known for its heavy mud and lack of grass was allocated to the Vikings for what turned out to be a difficult encounter against a well oiled, powerful and strong Tarleton team.

With the vale 1st team entertaining Widnes and the 2nd team playing Firwood Waterloo on the Crem pitch, the Vikings had to dispatch the trio of coach Josh Skivington, Matt Mount and Stu Peters early Saturday morning onto the questionable pitch to see if a match in the afternoon could be salvaged. Amazingly, after many hours of forking away the puddles and taking away the sloppy mud off the pitch, the boys received confirmation that the pitch was playable and the game was a go!

Preparation for this fixture was always going to prove difficult after non stop rain throughout the night and morning and with every footstep seeming to become heavier as the day went on. It was crucial that the Vale Vikings started well and got stuck in right from the first whistle.

A lads holiday in Latvia and unavailability this weekend meant that the team had to be reshuffled and replace key members of the team. The Vikings leader Simon Wilson, prop Jake Edlin and back row duo Seb Charnock and Rob O'Brien were replaced by university duo Harry Bailey and Toby Holt making their first appearances in the cherry and white jerseys along with veteran scrum half Matt "Iron man"Hirst, lacing on his boots for the first time in five years. All three players making incredible contributions to the team.

The Vikings match did not start the way they wanted to when the match ball seemed to have grown some wings and flew away, which resulted in the referee awarding Tarleton a penalty for a delayed kick off which was dispatched deep into the Vales twenty-two for a dangerous positioned line out. The visitors decided to go for a catch and drive which was halted brilliantly with some sublime defence from Stu Peters, Archie Rich and Josh Osborne. Tarleton's maul was halted immediately and the ball eventually spilled forward in the midfield with the conditions already taking its toll on the match within the first five minutes.

The first half was a dead heat in this testing and incredible encounter with the majority of the rugby played in either teams twenty-two. Many scrums were awarded for constant knock ons and many line outs were dropped to the floor with the conditions worsening by the minute and the ball becoming what felt like a bar of soap for some players. The vale did receive a penalty in the twenty ninth minute when the Tarleton skipper was sent to the naughty step for ten minutes for killing the ball at the breakdown. Stand in captain for the day Matt Mount decided to try and break the deadlock and sent Sean Pedder to try and accomplish this with a kick at goal. Conditions worsening further made the kick a tricky one just outside the twenty two with Sean just sending the ball wide of the left post.
Halftime 0-0.

The second half started pretty much the same as the first half did. Tarleton trying to pierce a hole in the outstanding Vale brick wall, with some incredible defence from Ricky Staniforth, Jamie Reeves and Tom Summers.

It was then the Vikings turn to try and breach the Tarleton defence with some incredible offloading and concrete balling from Skipper Matt Mount, Archie Rich and Jamie Fitton. But still no luck!

The hour mark soon approached and then sound of the referees whistle howled across the pitch after moans and groans from both parties complaining of the conditions echoing all over the pitch. The captains were summonsed to the referee and were asked if they wanted to put an end to the match leaving the scores at 0-0. Both captains proudly declined the offer of an early shower and elected to continue this horrific battle.

The referee's hanky then became a big factor in the match when he had to stop play on a number of occasions to wipe dirt out of players eyes with conditions beginning to take a nasty turn. This did not stop the Vikings flankers Harry Bailey who had an outstanding game and Tom Summers who was also on par with Harry coming in with some bone crunching tackles swinging the pendulum back into the vales favour. Pick and drive was the instruction barked from veteran scrum half Matt Hirst who also played magnificently all game to which Stu Peters, Archie Rich and Matt Mount happily obliged to making devastating ground.

The Vale then began to start moving the ball into the midfield with Toby Holt and Sasha Sharples trudging through the now "Pig Sty Pitch" and making tough yards towards the Tarleton defence. A couple more pick and drives from the Vale forwards then made more yards before fly half Andy Irvine was unable to keep hold of the ball which resulted in a turn over of possession and Tarleton using their big outside centre to good effect with a powerful surge deep into the Vikings half who was eventually taken to the ground by a wonderful tackle by winger Drew Hinchcliffe.

A loose ball in the Vales twenty-two had brave attempts from Josh Osborne and Jordan Wallace to retrieve possession, but was halted by the referee as he was unable to tell who was in possession of the ball due to the lack of colour on the rugby jerseys and the big pile of bodies. Tarleton were awarded the scrum and a penalty was given also for the Vikings apparent wheeling at a scrum.

It was then Tarleton's turn to have a shot at goal which seemed to be a wise option from the Tarleton skipper as the Vikings light, young lack seemed to have the edge at the scrum and lineout.

The visitors kicker made no mistake to break the deadlock as he dispatched the ball confidently over the posts on the 72nd minute mark. VIKINGS 0-3 TARLETON

A change in attitude was not the case this week as most teams that concede late, concede the game!! Skipper Matt Mount ordered his tired and dirty warriors to give it everything they had to try and salvage something from this battle, to which the lads responded positively and roared their way up to the half way line ready for kick off. A tired defensive line galloped towards Tarleton with another massive tackle from Tom Summers off the restart putting Tarleton on the back foot. The ball was finally turned over and the Vale forwards locked up together in a "Monsterous Maul" charging downfield gaining 35+ metres of territory. Tarleton were unable to sustain the pressure of the Vikings forwards and with screams coming from the sideline by coach Josh Skivington and active helper Kyron Sharples that a Tarleton player was illegally stopping the maul, the referee raised his hand in the air and awarded the penalty to the Vale deep inside the opposing teams half on the 77th minute mark.

Vikings players began shouting for the kicker to step up and "go for goal". Whilst Sean Pedder weighed up the kick coach Skivvy ordered his captain to take the scrum with instructions to go for the win as it was quite literally "do or die" in terms of the Vikings chasing promotion. Skipper Mounty elected the scrum and once again ordered his brothers in arms to give it every last bit of strength they had left inside of their battered cold and dirty bodies. Archie Rich picked up at the base of the scrum and flung himself over the opponents 22 metre line. Screams from Skivvy and the Vikings ever growing band of spectators began barking to continue the pick and drive method that seemed to be working for the Vale. A high body position from a Vale ball carrier turned into a maul which every single Vale player flew to the aid of their team mate and began driving him towards the Tarleton try line. The 15 man maul was halted just short of the line with the Vikings throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Tarleton.

FINALLY the Vikings found a way through the defence and it was astonishingly Little winger Jamie "Rottweiler" Reeves that drove Archie Rich over for a try under the posts. A most creditable and deserved try that was followed by a almighty roar from the Vikings players and spectators which moved Coach Josh Skivington to tears on the sideline. Sean Pedder stepped up to slot the conversion which came back off the post giving you an indication of how bad the pitch had actually become. According to 1st team coach Dan Williams. The roar from the pitch was heard at Fylde rugby club!!!!!

78th minute Vikings 5-3 Tarleton.

Tarleton however were not done yet as they sent a defensive line of their own towards the Vikings from the restart which was taken in a rugby league fashion as the ball was unable to bounce on the pitch.

Sasha Sharples ran the ball confidently back towards the Tarleton defence effectively with the Vale forwards working tirelessly to keep up with the speedy, tricky full back who was impressive from the first whistle to the last. More surging runs from Toby Holt and Jordan Wallace took the Vikings up to the half way line. Forward drives from the back of the rucks from Jamie Fitton, Harry Bailey and Tom Summers finally ran the referees clock down to zero as he lifted his hand to signal the end of the game.

Credit to a Tarleton side that were seriously unfortunate not to leave Powderhouse Lane with a win, as this turned out to be an incredible game of rugby to watch and took the Vikings all the way to the wire. With an average age of 22 in this Vikings team it meant an awful lot to both players and coaches.

A massive thank you to the referee for the day's work he had to put in as those conditions were certainly far from ideal to officiate in which he did incredibly well to do so.
Also a massive thank you from first team coach Dan Williams and "Mr Vale" himself Steve "Swaz" Swarbrick for bringing a pitch fork to help get our game played.

"Build me up, buttercup baby" began echoing from the showers of the Vikings changing rooms as the Vale began to celebrate a massive win which has done wonders to the Vikings promotion push. Suddenly the singing stopped and complaints from six different changing rooms began as the water began to give up and stop coming out of the shower heads. A shortage of water can never be a good thing after playing in conditions like that. 90+ dirty, tired, cold and beer thirsty players finally were able to shower and get into the clubhouse ready for the Calcutta cup match.

The Vikings travel to Aspull next week in a top of the table clash with Aspull who are currently sat in second position in the league followed closely by the mighty Vale. With two games in hand the Vale need to strike while they are In a position to do so and make a really good surge into the promotion places.

The Vikings will have to be on their "A" game if they are to come away from Aspull with a win. The return of the "Lads from Latvia" will certainly help strengthen this squad but you can be assured that this is going to be a battle of the ages!!

THEY JUST DO NOT KNOW WHEN TO DIE!!'

Team:
S Peters,M Mount (Capt), J Fitton, J Osborne, R Staniforth, T Summers, H Bailey, A Rich, M Hirst, A Irvine, S Pedder, J Wallace, J Reeves, D Hinchcliffe, S Sharples, T Holt,