WINDERMERE coach Graham Smith was pleased with his side's performance after surviving a second-half comeback to see off Egremont in a close affair in Cumbria 1 - a result which moves them up to fourth place.

A home crowd of more than 100 people at Dawes Meadow were not disappointed as the action was fast and furious from the kickoff.

Windermere drove down the pitch again and with five minutes gone were awarded a penalty in a kickable position which Paddy Wilson obliged to put the hosts into the lead.

Egremont were forced to defend again from the re-start, but did so illegally and after a series of penalties, they lost their hooker to a yellow card for persistent offences in the ruck.

Wilson successfully kicked for goal again and was at the heart of the action two minutes later when a rattled Egremont defender was sin-binned after a spear tackle.

With just 13 players on the pitch for eight minutes Windermere capitalised on their numbers to dominate the scrum. A short drive by the pack and a scampering run from scrum-half Dan Nield gave Windermere a converted try.

Egremont were back to full strength when Windermere attacked again with five minutes left till half time. A ruck turned into a maul, putting Egremont on the back foot and as the ball was spread to the backs, Rory Hodgson wriggled through a gap, side-stepped the full-back and scored under the posts. WIlson converted to bring the half-time score to 20-0.

The second half was a different story altogether, with Egremont in the ascendancy from the kick off. Just three minutes into the half, they forced a defensive penalty and a quick tap and go saw their 10 batter his way over the line near the posts.

After 20 minutes, Egremont chose to tap and go from a penalty on the Windermere 20m line and beat the wrong-footed defence to add another try bringing the score to 20-14 but the home side hung on for the victory.

Smith said: "Our concentration and discipline was good," he said. "We retained the ball well to beat a very strong Egremont side. We will be taking some lessons from this match and an encounter like this stands Windermere in good stead for the rest of the season."