KIRKBY Lonsdale RUFC continued their push towards a perfect campaign with a 32-19 win over Birkenhead Park.

The Merseyside club had been pushing the league champions closer than anyone all season but, like all teams so far in this campaign, were unable to stop Kirkby on matchday.

Park had the first chance for points with a long range penalty which was dead centre but fell just short under the posts but they came back again from Kirkby’s restart and the pressure they applied in the first ten minutes was intense.

With rare possession Kirkby finally got an attack going and there were early signs that Park, in an effort to close Kirkby down, were happy to stand in offside positions until the referee called them up on it. Kirkby stand-off Dave Barton must have spotted this when he chipped the ball over for right wing Martyn Knapton to gather and put in a run to the corner, he was tackled but laid the ball back and the forwards hammered the Park line.

Several thrusts were held by Park until Kirkby Skipper Ben Walker saw a gap and was through wide out right for the first try.

A successful penalty put Park on the board at 5-3 but Kirkby had settled and were finding some rhythm. Second row Matt Hughes put in a thundering run breaking several tackles to to take play to the edge of the Park twenty two but he had drawn cover in and the move was completed when wing Harry Huddleston found space down the right touchline to score the second try.

Another Birkenhead penalty narrowed the gap to 10-6 then a Kirkby penalty extended it again to 13 – 6. As the half progressed the balance of territory and possession was with Park and when Kirkby infringed in defence another penalty made it 13-9 and when the home side hauled down a maul another penalty put Park within a point at 13-12.

The half time whistle was almost due, Kirkby were awarded a penalty which Barton put into touch down the right just inside the Park twenty two. Although under a lot of pressure in the lineout Kirkby won their throw, scrum half Walker took a few steps and fed Barton who then ran a beautiful angle shrugging off tackles to score near the posts. Ryan Terry’s conversion was the last kick of the half and Kirkby went in 20-12 up having scored three tries to none.

The second half was an attritional and at times brutal affair as Park sought to get something from the game.

Despite being a scrappy encounter Kirkby scored two more tries, with stand off Barton involved in both, having run out of his twenty two he passed outside to hooker Matt Hoyland just inside the Kirkby half and in front of the grandstand. There was plenty of Park defence but he outrageously dummied a pass to winger Huddleston which rooted Park to the ground, raised a great cheer from the home crowd and put him in space to cut inside on the scissors splitting the remaining cover and running in under the posts for the bonus point fourth try. Terry's second conversion of the afternoon had Kirkby in a commanding position at 27-12.

As with the first half it was Park who were having the majority of territory and possession. They spent a lot of time in and around ten metres of the Kirkby line putting the ball through numerous phases and taking different options of attack through forwards and backs. All were repulsed, Kirkby weathered the storm with every man flat out in defence and the tackle count was very high.

Eventually possession came back Kirkby’s way and it was Barton again the tormentor when, deep in the Park half, he called a loop move which made him the extra man. He ran at the line then timed a pass to Knapton on the left wing who scored the fifth try in the corner as the clock ran down. There was time for Park to rumble over and kick the conversion but that mattered not and this was a very big win for Kirkby who, from scant possession, ran in five tries to one to make the final score 32-19 and send Park home pointless.

Two more games, starting with a trip to fourth-placed Wilmslow on Saturday, are all that stand in the way of Kirkby's 100 per cent season.