"It was a beautiful day, though the rugby felt like an after-thought on a construction site sandwiched between a housing development at one end and a lavish and most impressive pavilion extension at the other.

Not unusually, we felt like the poor relations both on and off the field.

The manicured swards between the breeze-block frenzy provided an approp-riate stage for Mike Scott to demonstrate why he is the best fly-half in the league by a wide margin.

In the first half there was little to choose between the teams other than a masterclass of deftly-placed chips over a defence that looked every bit the equal of Fylde's running attacks.

We had enjoyed plenty of position and possession, and even generated some try scoring chances, but lacked the game-breaking genius of the home team.

The same could not be said of the second half over which a discreet veil is best drawn.

Nothing should be taken away from a Fylde performance that was powerful, pacy and painful for the visitors to watch. Neither could the impression of contributory negligence by the defence be entirely dispelled.

Fylde have assembled a side with a legitimate ambition to be at the opposite end of the league table from where we find ourselves.

Their current league pos-ition will no doubt be temporary, though it does illustrate the ever-increasing strength of the competition.

It is ironic that the generosity of Powergen meant that the six points that we scored turned out to be worth over a thousand pounds each.

Neither was it our heaviest cup defeat, though the quality of the performance in conceding 78 points to Coventry in 1993 was undoubtedly more competitive. At least this humiliation was not televised nationally, as was its predecessor.

Where does it leave us? With little prospect of the injured troops returning to the fray immediately, there is no magic solution.

I believe that luck tends to even itself out over a period of time, and so all that is left for us is to hang on with fortitude and determination until the tide turns.

At the same time we are endeavouring to evolve a strategy to address both short and medium-term factors that might alleviate the current difficulty and reduce the risk of the same thing happening again.

The club has never faced bigger challenges, on or off the field. Neither is it any stranger to disadvantage or inequality. It is a challenge to the determination of all involved.