Another two tries for Harry Holden and a Sammy Russell belter saw Hoppers hold a five point lead, but a last minute Jordan Dorrington try saw the visitors lose out by just two points.

A number of cards were shown throughout, with both sides giving away a number of penalties, particularly for high tackles.

It was a packed out crowd for derby day at The Woodlands, and the home side made the better start, with Preston giving away four penalties in as many minutes.

Matt Garrod got the first points of the day when he found the try line from the maul, putting Hoppers under early pressure.

Both sides struggled to keep hold of the ball for an extended amount of time in the fifteen minutes following, before Ally Murray was shown a yellow card.

And Hoppers were made to be punished just three minutes later, when Fylde captain Toby Harrison scored.

Ben Turner made a storming run from the 22, coming up just short, before offloading to Harrison who powered his way over to put Fylde 10 ahead.

The visitors managed to get on the board when the returning Greg Smith put away a penalty in front of the posts comfortably.

But Fylde made the most of the extra man, when Lewis Quinn produced a commanding finish, driven over by his teammates.

Hoppers managed to get a try on the board eventually through a now-trademark driving maul, their first opportunity to do so, with Holden the one to dot it down.

Hoppers went into half time with the score 15-8 after some top defending from the visitors kept the gap to only seven points.

Just as they did against Chester last week, Hoppers came out at half time like a different team, with Russell scoring within 30 seconds.

Owain Williams won the ball from the restart, running his way up to the 22. Three quick passes saw Russell find himself in space before powering over to put Preston just two points behind.

And it was a great opening 10 minutes when Holden got what is already his fifth of the season with another try off of the driving maul.

Hoppers had plenty of opportunity to extend their five point lead, but failed to capitalise on Fylde’s misfortune, even more disappointing when they couldn’t make the most of Dave Fairbrother’s yellow.

As it approached the last ten minutes, it started to get more tense, with Fylde showing more intent, and Marc Maher being shown a yellow.

It was nail-biting stuff as Fylde kept attacking the line but to no prevail, before Smith was also shown a yellow, leaving the home side with a two man advantage.

And it was heartbreak for Hoppers when Dorrington powered over under the posts, leading to an easy conversion to restore the Fylde lead.

And in the dying seconds when Hoppers couldn’t get a hold of the ball, Murray was shown a second yellow, subsequently becoming red for a high tackle.

That late try meant it was back to back weeks where Hoppers fell just short of a result, with two late moments denying them.

Head coach Dan Orwin was disappointed with the end result after the team’s second half performance.

“We should have won, that was my view on it,” he said.

“Thought Fylde were better first half, but we were all over them in the second half.

“We just didn’t close the game out, we said on the touchline when we were five points ahead that we needed to get one more score, whether that was a try or a penalty.

“However we got that score we needed to go two more points ahead, and we had opportunities but went for the wrong decisions.

“We’ve got to recognise when those chances are there, when the referee is with us, which he was for a time.

“When they got their yellow, that was our chance to turn the screw in the game, but we didn’t, we just didn’t.

“And ultimately that’s what you get, they score when we’ve got 13 players, and you lose by two points, it’s frustrating.”

After back to back two point losses, Preston Grasshoppers will hope to pick up their first win at home against Sheffield Tigers on 21 September.

Match report by Tom Kelly