Middlesbrough 3 - Kendal 28 (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Middlesbrough 3 - Kendal 28

9:16am Friday 5th October 2007 in

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KENDAL made it four wins out of four in North Division One with a controlled performance away at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Both sides seemed evenly matched, but it was Kendal who struck first in the 14th minute when Middlesbrough were penalised for being offside in their back line.

The ever-reliable boot of fly-half Dan Stephens kicked the three points.

Middlesbrough levelled the scores six minutes later when Kendal were caught offside in their back line. Full-back Simon Moore successfully kicked the penalty.

An infringement at a maul deep in the Middlesbrough 22 saw Stephens punt the ball into the corner and from the resulting catch-and-drive at the lineout lock Gareth Gore was driven over the whitewash for an unconverted try.

A second Dan Stephens penalty a minute before halftime made the score 11-3 to Kendal at the interval.

Middlesbrough had an opportunity to pull three point s back early in the second half, but Moore's penalty attempt at goal rebounded back off the crossbar and with excellent running skills Stephens ran the ball out of defence to nearly the halfway line to clear the danger.

A penalty to Kendal midway through the second half again saw the catch-and-drive used to good effect with the forwards again crashing over the try line for Gore to score his second.

Stephens added the conversion, extending Kendal's lead to 15 points.

With Kendal steadily controlling the game in the last 20 minutes they built on their lead with Stephens firstly kicking a neat drop-goal and then six minutes from the end, with Kendal firmly on the offensive, prop Billy Coxon burrowed his way over the try line after good linking play from back-row Mark Wilson kept the attack alive.

Stephens kicked the conversion for a final score of 28-3 that puts Kendal at the top the table with a better points record than Huddersfield, the division's only other unbeaten team.