Kendal got the better of South Lakes at the Cinder Ovens pitch at Kirkbie Kendal School with a 2-1 win.

There was a minutes silence before the match to remember a well respected member of the Cumbrian hockey family. Sadly, Dave Armitage, who had umpired countless matches for many clubs for more than thirty years, passed away last week. He will be sorely missed.

The game started with all the intensity you would expect from a derby match. There was an extra incentive for both teams, as the victors would not only earn local bragging rights, but would also consolidate their position in the top three of the league.

The match ebbed and flowed with both teams fighting hard to gain an advantage. Eventually Kendal began to assert themselves in midfield with Mark Addison and Andrew Melville performing their assigned duties with military efficiency and the home side began to look the most likely to score. Liam Derome danced his way repeatedly down the left wing, his unique style was proving to be almost impossible for the South Lakes defence to live with and he earned Kendal a plethora of scoring opportunities.

The visiting keeper and captain was in fine form, however, and made a series of impressive saves much to the frustration of the Kendal front line.

John Stanworth then became a veritable one man stampede down the right wing. Stanworth rode a multitude challenges and unleashed a rocket of a pass once the keeper had committed himself. Tyson Barclay was the target man and he calmly controlled the furious ball at the back post before giving Kendal the lead they craved.

The second half continued to be well contested. The home side still edged the majority of play and had the lion's share of possession and chances.

However, South Lakes were not without threat and Rob Cartwright was called upon to prove his worth more than once in defence of the Kendal goal. A task he carried out with distinction.

The hosts then created a flurry of chances. Aaron Screen was enjoying a more advanced role for The Greens and revelled in the opportunity to ghost through tackles seemingly at will.

Kendal then executed a well rehearsed penalty corner. Simon Millington injected the ball, sprinted toward the goal and deflected the returned pass into the bottom corner leaving the keeper no chance of making a save.

After achieving a two goal cushion, Kendal then attempted to calm the game down. Keeping the ball at the back the home side proceeded to pass South lakes into submission.

Man-of-the-match Millington performed exceptionally well in foiling any attempts to dispossess the Kendal defence.

The visitors, to their credit, refused to give up the game and continued to hassle the Kendal lines. They gained their reward when they latched onto a rare misplaced pass by Kendal, earned themselves a scoring opportunity and converted it well. The home side were not downbeat though and continued with their game plan. They kept the ball and saw out the rest of the half finishing deserving winners of what was a well contested and hard fought derby match.