Hoppers look to pick up a first win of the National League 2 North season tomorrow when they travel to local rivals Fylde.

Fylde are in the same position after an opening weekend 38-19 loss at Sheffield. Hoppers suffered an agonising 32-30 defeat at home to Chester but did pick up 2 bonus points.

Fylde have a much changed squad this season with experienced players Ben Gregory, Greg Smith, Tom Carleton, Ollie Parkinson and Scott Rawlings having moved on. Plenty of new faces have arrived to replace them with forwards Mike Walton (Billingham), Lewis Quinn (Huddersfield), Greg Morgan (Sedgley Park), Olly Trippier and Ben Dorrington (both ‘Hoppers) all arriving.

New faces in the backs include Patrick Bishop (Durham University), Lewis Kincart (Kendal & Blackburn), Lucas Atherton (North Walsham), Owen Fisher (Northumbria University), Alex Gaughan (Caldy & Waterloo) and Tom Armstrong (St Helens RL, Leigh Centurions, Widnes Vikings, Sheffield Eagles & Toronto Wolfpack).

Looking forward to the game, Hoppers Head Coach Dan Orwin said "It’s Fylde week! In the context of the full season, it’s ‘just another game,’ but it never feels like that for either club. We are ready and we are confident that if we can get our performance right, as we did for large parts against Chester, we can get the job done."

"In these derby games, it’s often the team that can manage their emotions, stay calm, and stick to process that comes out on top. Although we’ve pushed Fylde very close over the past two seasons, we’ve been (agonizingly) on the wrong end of the result. Friendships between coaches and players across the two clubs will be temporarily paused for 80 minutes tomorrow, as both teams look to record their first win of the season."

"We welcome Robbie Willlets back, at 7, and we’ve tweaked our back three slightly."

Line Up

Wade WILLIAMS
Harry HOLDEN
Tom GUEST
Ally MURRAY
Dec NORRINGTON
Ben O’RYAN
Rob WILLETTS
Scott RICHARDSON (C)
Joe HARRISON
Greg SMITH
Jack LIGHTOWLER
Sammy RUSSELL
Jake MAHER
Owain WILLIAMS
Jacob BROWNE

Mike ASHDOWN
Cam WILKINSON
Luke PROCTER
Tyler SPENCE
Marc MAHER