KIRKBY Lonsdale were narrowly beaten at home to Lymm on Saturday.

Matt Bargh scored a debut try and Underley Park and Kirkby enjoyed large spells of possession, but were unable to overcome a Lymm side who sit third in the Northern Premier division.

Weather conditions were good although the pitch was heavy after the weeks of rain as Kirkby kicked off towards the town.

It was Lymm’s first league visit to Underley Park and they should have been made to work hard to get the ball but Kirkby repeatedly kicked away possession in the early stages and Lymm’s high scoring backs all got an early touch which allowed them to settle in quickly and gleefully run it back.

Another Kirkby kick handed possession over yet again and Lymm were over for an unconverted try in the right corner with only seven minutes played.

A high Lymm tackle gave Kirkby a penalty and then a lineout a few metres from the left corner flag but Lymm held the catch and drive. The ball came back and into the hands of stand-off Dave Barton who created the moment of the match with a sublime move involving a number of players, then cutting through the defence to feed young full back Matthew Bargh who scored his debut first team try. The conversion was missed as was an earlier kickable penalty and the scores were level at 5-5 with quarter of an hour played.

Lymm edged back in front with a penalty when Kirkby went offside in front of the sticks. Kirkby came back and should have scored but the ball carrier didn’t get the pass away and ran into the tackle inside the Lymm twenty two with two unmarked players on the inside only ten metres from the line. With five minutes of the first half to play, prop Tyran Fagan limped off with a leg injury, Elliot Horner coming off the bench to replace him and there was no further score when the whistle went.

For the second half, Alex Rogers replaced Matt Hughes in the second row and Kirkby butchered another chance, a break took play down the right and only needed the scoring pass to be held but it was dropped and the error count was assuming a significant proportion.

It was Kirkby though who were turning the screw with field position and possession in the Lymm half, but when the visitors were penalised for holding on some thirty metres out, yet another kickable penalty was missed.

As the half progressed, Kirkby attacked a sequence of five metre scrums put Lymm under sustained pressure. During this period, Kirkby tried drives and backs moves and number eight Dave Maka came very close to scoring but the Lymm defence held every assault.

A rare foray into the home half by Lymm produced another sitter of a penalty when Kirkby went offside in front of the posts. Lymm took full advantage and moved 11-5.

Kirkby came back looking for the score they were worth and as they hammered the Lymm defence their number five, Matt Connelly, was red carded for connecting with a punch, later claiming it was in retaliation.