Kirkby Lonsdale 14

Kendal 0

KIRKBY Lonsdale secured revenge over local rivals Kendal and in the process strengthened their claims of a play-off place at the end of the season after a resounding win at Underley Park.

A crowd of over 2,000 packed in to watch what both sides had called the biggest derby in history, with Kendal knowing they could usurp the hosts in second place in North One West with victory.

With Jack Akrigg unable to recover from injury in time 18-year-old Harry Ralston came in at number 13, while Bob Mataia had flown home during the week, so Ian Voortman made a first start of the season for Kendal.

After a mixed start Kendal were given a glimpse of things to come when they returned pointless from a foray into the heart of Kirkby territory.

A sequence of penalties took them to within ten metres of the Kirkby line and they tried a catch and drive from a promising lineout position, only for the tenacious defence of the home side to hold firm under pressure.

It was the visitors who looked the stronger of the two sides early on, but Kirkby got the scoreboard ticking over midway through the first half. Voortman was caught offside in midfield and Kirkby centre Tom Pickthall made no mistake with the penalty.

After half an hour Kendal were pinged for a lineout offence and again Pickthall added the three points to give the home side a 6-0 lead.

Kirkby then saw hooker Dan Armistead yellow carded for a wayward elbow as he ran with the ball, before Chad Spence was harshly sin-binned for a deliberate knock on, leaving the home with just 13 men on the field.

Kendal forced a penalty with the numerical advantage but the kick was caught in the wind and drifted wide.

Despite being down to 13 Kirkby launched an attack of their own which resulted in Voortman also being yellow carded for his part in a melee.

From a five metre scrum it looked like Spence had gone over in the corner, only for the try to be disallowed for a forward pass.

A Kirkby knock-on straight from kick-off at the start of the second half gave Kendal field position, but again they were frustrated in their attempts to come away with any points.

Twice Kendal rumbled over the line, only for Kirkby to get bodies under the ball and prevent a score.

With both sides back to 15 David Cooper-Dunn picked up another yellow for the side, but again Kirkby's defence held firm.

The game's only try arrived when Pickthall's kick at goal fell well short in the wind.

Voortman failed to gather the ball and it came back on Kirkby's side, with scrum half Ben Walker moving it left to Dave Barton, and his pass played in full back Chris Ramwell who powered over to score in the corner, although Pickthall failed to add the extras.

Kendal continued to look for a way back into the game, but they couldn't get past the Kirkby defence, and with five minutes to go Barton struck a drop goal to seal victory and enhance Kirkby's chances of promotion.