THE inconsistency which has dogged Kirkby Lonsdale's North Premier campaign returned to haunt them on Saturday.

Last week's dramatic home victory over Rossendale had put them in good heart for the trip to Lymm, but the visitors never really got going as the Cheshire side eased to a 37-20 victory.

Things went wrong for Kirkby from the early stages as they yielded a penalty in front of the posts which the home side duly kicked to put themselves 3-0 up with only two minutes played.

But the scores were level five minutes later when Kirkby drove Lymm off their ball at a scrum and Ryan Terry's 32 metre penalty was good.

The visitors had the edge in the scrum all day but couldn’t make this advantage tell as the home backs, with scrum half Cormac Nolan a chief tormentor, began to dominate in open play with cohesive, wide and fast breaks from anywhere on the field.

Kirkby gave away another penalty and Lymm took advantage with a converted try under the posts.

More handling errors by the visitors did not help their cause, an example being a try scoring chance butchered with a badly timed pass to right wing Andrew Bargh who had a clear run to the line.

A Kirkby scrum drive produced a second kickable penalty and Terry was bang on target again to close the gap to 10-6, but straight away, they conceded another penalty under the posts and Lymm restored their seven point advantage.

Yet another penalty chance came Lymm’s way from close range but this time Nolan took a swift tap and go which caught Kirkby a little off guard.

He was held short of the line but Kirkby couldn’t prevent the follow up going over, the conversion extending the home lead to 20-6.

But as the first half clock wound down, the Kirkby forwards did restore a little balance when, after a period of pressure in the left corner, hooker Dan Armistead got the ball down for a try, Terry’s excellent conversion from the touchline making the half time score 20-13.

If Kirkby could bring more control and discipline into their game during the second half, they still had a great chance but it didn’t happen.

A break out from inside their twenty two saw Lymm score a very good try with fast running and slick passing, the conversion stretching the lead to 27-13.

There was a glimmer of light for Kirkby when Lymm had a player yellow carded for a high tackle on Stu Storey, but they failed to make the extra man advantage pay and gave away another easy penalty.

There was no lack of effort from the visitors but there was a lack of effectiveness when promising moves and field positions persistently broke down without a score.

And as if to demonstrate how it should be done Lymm produced their best try of the match, again as Kirkby were attacking, the ball came Lymm’s way and they swept down the pitch for their fourth and bonus point try to take a match winning lead at 37 – 13.

Kirkby did score again through irrepressible skipper Dave Barton who also converted his try to make the final score a little more respectable at 37-20, but the day was unarguably Lymm’s.

Kirkby now hope to get back on track when they host high flying Blaydon on Saturday.