KIRKBY Lonsdale were narrowly beaten by a Morley side desperately trying to retain their league status on Saturday.

Morley have a big pack and the lighter Kirkby eight knew they were in for a struggle in that capacity but as they kicked off left to right in front of the clubhouse and down the wind they took the game to Morley.

A Dave Barton chip over into the try zone caused problems for the home side but they were able to win the race to the fingertip touchdown and prevent a try.

The first scrum came following a Kirkby knock on on the home twenty two and from their put in, Morley held the ball and drove Kirkby back. Although they had possession good cover tackling kept them in their own half and when they infringed Kirkby had a penalty kick at goal from around thirty metres. Kirkby could not take advatange, though, as Ryan Terry's kick came back off the bar.

It was eight minutes before Morley crossed the half way line but in the awful slimy conditions it was their turn to knock on for a Kirkby scrum, but it was no surprise when Morley drove over the ball to gain possession.

Again good tackling in open play close to the line kept them out and when an error brought the ball Kirkby’s way it was whipped out to young left wing Harry Huddleston. He was eventually held but the ball was recycled and moved quickly right down the line to centre Matt Bargh, who cut through for the try. Terry’s conversion shaved the post on the wrong side but Kirkby led 5-0.

In the second quarter, Morley began to exert pressure keeping the ball close and driving off powerful runs from their big number eight Brandon Hannam and if it wasn’t him it was their big second rows. In an excellent passage of play, they put the ball through 21 phases as they advanced towards the Kirkby line and an inevitable try, converted by their stand-off and captain Mark Chester to give Morley a 7-5 lead.

There was no further score before half time although Bargh came very close when he saw a gap and ran an angle but was tackled on the line with Huddleston spare on the outside.

Kirkby handed a dream second half start to Morley when confusion between two players saw the Morley restart kick dropped just inside the twenty two. The home forwards would have been licking their lips as they jogged towards the scrum and sure enough Kirkby coughed up a penalty which Chester slotted to make it 10-5.

Kirkby did narrow it to 10-8 after ten minutes with a Terry penalty but ten minutes later a Chester penalty restored the margin to take Morley to 13-8 at the end of the third quarter. Little went off and Will Brown came on, the bench was empty and Kirkby shuffled what remaining resources they had with positional changes, one example being Stu Storey rotating between wing and seven when there was a scrum, where the home pack had run out of steam.

Kirkby couldn’t shift them at the scrum but they now couldn’t shift Kirkby either and this gave Kirkby a platform to exploit their fitness and pace. In this way Kirkby had the better of the last quarter with enough possession and territory to win the game but tactically they seemed to blow it when good possession was repeatedly kicked away for runners. What looked like try scoring opportunities continually broke down, Morley were under great pressure but with some good defence alongside the Kirkby mistakes they were able to hang on for the win at 13-8.

A losing bonus point for Kirkby, their 10th of the season, means they are now mathematically ensured of survival in the division with three games to spare.