Kendal 31 - 10 Carlisle

GARRY Holmes continued his impressive recent try-scoring form as Kendal closed the gap on rivals Kirkby Lonsdale with a comprehensive win over Carlisle at Mint Bridge.

The five-try victory, coupled with Kirkby's defeat at leaders Birkenhead Park, means Kendal are now within three points of the Underley Park outfit with a game in hand.

Holmes, who has scored 13 tries in his last five games, grabbed a hat-trick for the second time in two weeks in a game which saw three yellow cards issued.

Kendal's first try arrived after ten minutes. Former Carlisle man Glenn Weightman put a kick across field, which seemed to be too long, but he had judged it perfectly, as winger Dini Noyo gathered.

Whilst he was stopped, he managed to get the pass away to Holmes in support to score on the left.

The lead was doubled five minutes later. Nathan Wooff made a break to the line on the right.

The forwards took the ball on, but when they could not get across, the ball was moved left. A long pass seemed to have gone loose, but again Noyo tidied up to gather and score in the corner. Weightman’s difficult conversion kick came back off the post but Kendal's early dominance reaped yet more rewards five minutes later.

Chris Park made a break from within his own half and when he was stopped Billy Coxon broke away. Rather than go for the line himself, he fed James Gough, but Carlisle had anticipated the pass and held him up. The referee penalised Carlisle with Weightman putting over the penalty for a 13-0 lead.

Whilst behind on the scoreboard, Carlisle were playing well whenever they had the ball in hand, keeping it through multiple phases at speed but the Kendal defence was more than a match.

After half an hour, Bob Mataia was yellow carded for illegally stopping a Carlisle attack and fullback Damian Armstrong opened their scoring with the resulting penalty.

The away side continued to put pressure on Kendal and just before half-time there was an altercation between Gough and Carlisle second row Paul Halliday which saw both given yellow cards.

Weightman extended the Kendal lead with a well struck drop goal early in the second-half and after withstanding some heavy Carlisle pressure, Kendal set up some of their own, and forced a string of penalties to put Carlisle back on their own line.

Coxon ran a penalty near the line and the forwards took the ball on, with Holmes emerging with the try for a 21-3 lead.

With ten minutes to play, Kendal final got the all important fourth try to gain a bonus point.

Duncan Green and Gough made ground in the Carlisle twenty two and when the ball came out Wooff powered through and while he was stopped near the line, he managed to stretch over and ground the ball.

The fifth try arrived from a lineout when the forwards drove to the line and again it was Holmes who emerged with the ball.

Carlisle finished the game on the attack and were finally rewarded with the final play of the game with a converted try to end the game.

Kendal: Nathan Woof, Chris Park, Mark Carruthers, Bob Mataia, Dini Noyo, Glen Weightman, James Gough (C), Billy Coxon, Duncan Green, Richard Harryman, Liam Hayton, Ben Leacock, Garry Holmes, Dan Greenwood, James Thompson. Subs: Robbie Collinson, Chris Downham, Alistair Thompson