WHARFEDALE skipper Josh Burridge was still able to raise a smile at the end of an emotional eight days.

"My grandad Ron died last Saturday aged 88," explained the 21-year-old after the Greens' 32-28 National League One home defeat against Fylde last weekend.

The Greens, who slipped a place to second from bottom, scored early tries via Ollie Fewtrell and Rob Baldwin and late ones via Phil Woodhead and Dan Solomi to pick up two bonus points.

However, flanker Burridge said: "Our inability to get out of our 22 to where we needed to be cost us but I am happy that we picked up two bonus points."

Too often the Green Machine seemed to fall foul of referee John Meredith, but Wharfedale coach Tom McGee reckoned his interpretation wasn't always right.

He said: "We were penalised once and got a yellow card (to full back Max Labasse) and they (Fylde) were penalised five times and received no yellow cards.

"But we targeted five points from the matches against Hull Ionians (won 16-15 away from home on December 12) and Fylde and ended up with six.

"It was a tough game against Fylde but a good game, and both teams defended really well, and there were not a lot of line breaks.

"We lost a couple of line-outs in key positions, which could have been game changers, but I am up for the fight in terms of the rest of the season, and so are all of the players."

Wharfedale's resilience was not only shown in the way that they played the last 20 minutes but also in the way that they survived three successive penalty decisions in the first half, the first of which was a controversial one after a collapsed scrum, before advancing downfield for No 8 Baldwin to score their second try.

Only four points now separate the bottom four as the league takes a one-week break.

With the gym extension progressing well at The Avenue, attention on the field turns to the Foresters, who play their traditional Boxing Day match at North Ribblesdale on Saturday (2pm).