Morecambe 1 Kirkby Stephen 4

KIRKBY Stephen travelled to Lancaster to take on Morecambe, who seem to be struggling this season.

Taking immediate control, Kirkby penetrated the defence and only a few minutes had elapsed before Debbie Barr opened the scoring, drilling the ball in to the bottom corner from a penalty corner routine.

As Kirkby continued to push high up the field, good movement from Mel Earl and Rachel Faustino created space for themselves and allowed the midfield to advance in support.

The reward came as a Faustino effort was deflected into the roof of the net to put the visitors two-nil up.

Morecambe battled well and worked hard to get back into the game and managed to score just before half time.

Their confidence boosted, Morecambe started the second half strongly, but Kirkby's defence of Lou Barr, Jenny Sayer and Litini Newcome denied any goal-scoring opportunities.

Vicky Potter, in at sweeper, linked well from defence to midfield, supplying some great passes, particularly linking well with Andrea Dixon, and later Ruth Lawler, down the right.

As the daylight disappeared, a missing floodlight caused the umpires to discuss playing on with both captains. It was assessed there was no major risk to safety and the game continued. Regaining possession, Kirkby once again began to dominate.

When Lilly Prime switched to the wing and Barr into the centre, Morecambe simply could not cope with the visitors’ passing and movement.

Lucy Potter, who had worked extremely hard in midfield, found herself in the area with only the keeper to beat and calmly slotted the ball home to restore Kirkby's two-goal cushion. Prime then picked out Mel Earl on a forward run and produced a killer pass, which Earl neatly tucked past the keeper to seal a 4-1 victory.