Match Preview
If you are superstitious look away now and come back at the third paragraph.
In 2013/14 the final game of the season was against Wirral, who won to become Champions and we finished 4th. In 2014/15 the final game was lost to Birkenhead Park, who had already been crowned Champions, we finished 3rd. This is the final game, so who will be Champions and where will we finish - No lightening cannot strike three times !
Before the away fixture the two teams had an almost identical record, but no one can have expected it to still be this tight. Whilst other Leagues will occasionally have been won in a final day showdown between the top two teams, can any League ever have been so tightly contested, that those teams arrived at that final game, with just a single loss to their name, and did not yet have the title in the bag.
The losers will have a second chance of promotion in a play-off against Morley, but as Kirkby found last season, that is no guarantee of success, and whilst we have both been battling for every point, Morley will have known for some time that they would be in this position, and can afforded to have sat back and relaxed a little more.
Get down early as a bumper crowd is expected, with visitors coming from a number of other clubs to witness the spectacle. It could be the last Cumbria Derby to ever be played at Mint Bridge – or we could be back for more next season.
We mustn't lose - Kirkby need to win.
Hopefully both teams will rise to the occasion and the best team will come out on top.
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TEAM : Phil Murphy comes in for Ben Leacock in the second row, Chris Downham is back in place of Josh Coyle who moves to the bench. Zane Butler is out and his place is taken by Chris Park. Alistair Thompson retains his spot on the bench.
Kendal start with 11 of the 15 who started the away game, Kirkby have 12, but Chris Park and Glenn Weightman started from the bench that day, so both teams are close to those who compeated back in October.
| Kendal | Kirkby Lonsdale | |
| Nathan Wooff | 15 | Martyn Knapton |
| Chris Park | 14 | Dave Bird |
| Damian Armstrong | 13 | Tom Pickthall |
| Danny Barker | 12 | R. Terry |
| Mark Carruthers | 11 | Harry Ralston |
| Glenn Weightman | 10 | Dave Barton |
| James Gough | 9 | Ben Walker |
| Glenn Chesher | 1 | R. Holmes |
| Duncan Green | 2 | Matt Hoyland |
| Jack Lashley | 3 | Pablo Kwiczor |
| Liam Hayton | 4 | Leandro Kwiczor |
| Phil Murphy | 5 | David Cooper-Dunn |
| Josh Chaplow | 6 | Lwazi Ngcumgama |
| Matty Houghton | 7 | Stuart Storey |
| Chris Downham | 8 | Craig Galbraith |
| Richard Harryman | sub | B.Rowse |
| Josh Coyle | sub | N. Edney |
| Alistair Thompson | sub | Chris Ramwell |
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WEATHER : Mostly a bright sunny day - but there is a threat of showers during the game
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