Both teams came into the game following big wins against fellow strugglers Stoke, moving them closer to safety, and a win for either team would almost confirm that.

Since the teams had last played Leek had had a turnaround in their fortunes, having picked up just six points in their first nine games, they had since collected twenty six in the last nine, to sit just two points behind Kendal at the start of the day.

After their big win at Stoke last weekend there was just one change in the Kendal team with Patrick Wolstenholme coming off the bench to replace Greg Wrathall who was not involved. Dane Blenkharn and Tom Keast returned on an all forward bench.

Ollie Rose and Oscar Coxon made their twentieth appearance of the season for the first time to qualify for Club Badges.

Kendal started well and had the opening score within two minutes. Matt Houghton opened up the defence on the right and the ball was quickly moved left. Steven Nelson broke through before passing to Patrick Wolstenholme, who did not need the support outside him, going over for the try. Aaron Stephens added the difficult conversion. 7v0.

Kendal continued to attack and had a chance to extend their lead, but the penalty drifted wide.

Leek came back and Kendal were forced to do a lot of tackling, but Leek could find no way through and when awarded a penalty after fifteen minutes took the points. 7v3.

Kendal had a chance to restore the lead, but another penalty kick went wide.

After twenty five minutes Alex Ryder picked up an injury, and was forced off. For once Kendal had the right men on the bench, with two second rows, and Ben Leacock came on.

There was another chance for Kendal to score as they drove from a lineout and whilst they got across the line, Leek prevented them grounding the ball for a try, to force a goal line drop out.

At the end of the half, another chance for Kendal was missed, as when an attack was stopped in front of the posts, forwards all stood off rather than go in to protect the ball, and Leek were able to turn the ball over.

So Kendal held only a narrow 7v3 at half time and the mood on the touchine, was would all the missed opportunities be regretted with Leek having the breeze behind them in the second half.

Leek started well and put Kendal under pressure in their own twenty two. After ten minutes Ollie Rose was yellow carded for stopping an attack on the line illegally (may have been a high tackle).

Kendal defended the subsequent penalty, and won a penalty of their own, but the kick failed to make touch and was run back by Leek for a try. The difficult conversion was added and Leek had the lead. 7v10.

Kendal made a tactical changing bringing Dane Blenkharn on for Patrick Wolstenholme.

Another Kendal mistake led to a second Leek try. A Kendal lineout throw was taken by a Leek jumper. The ball was moved from right to left then came back for a try in the right hand corner, and the difficult conversion was added. 7v17.

Tom Keast came on for Ben Leacock.

Restored to fifteen Kendal were soon back in the game.

The ball was moved wide to Steven Nelson, who made ground before releasing Dafydd Philp, who outpaced the cover to score, and Aaron Stephens added the difficult conversion. 14v17.

Kendal came back again and when awarded a penalty, rather than kick to the corner, the kick at goal was taken to tie the scores, but again failed to find the target.

Leek went back on the attack and scored a third try following a lineout to re-establish a two score lead. 14v22.

The re-start kick failed to go ten metres to give Leek a scrum, and they tried to run the clock down, keeping the ball tight.

As the game came to an end Kendal had another chance and took it. A good run by fullback Ben O’Halloran, was ended with Barney Coxon ploughing over for the try. Despite there still being two minutes to play on my clock, it was clear this was to be the last action, and Luke Atkinson was given the difficult conversion kick but again it drifted wide. 19v22

As someone suggested at the end of the game, the better team on the day won. Leek played really well, but if Kendal had taken their chances (as they did last week at Stoke), they would have won easily. The only conclusion being they did the difficult things well, but were let done by mistakes doing the less difficult.

The worse news was Stoke had won by two points in ninety-two against Penrith, to reduce the gap to Kendal to just six points (due to the bonus point earned by Barney Coxon’s late try).

So as Penrith is our next game, does this score against a team we held to just twelve points (seven of which came from a penalty try) mean we have a chance to get some much needed points at Penrith next week ? They a very different team at home. They have not won away since defeating Stockport in the opening game of the season, but have only dropped points at home to the top four. So we will have to see, but hopefully our team who played so well at Stoke turn-up this time.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Barney Coxon

ACTION

TEAM :

OTHER GAMES

One shock with Rossendale well beaten by Manchester. So with Anselmians winning the gap is down to six points, and the two teams have to meet at Anselmians, before the end of the season.

The BAD news was Stoke got a bonus point win to keep them in the hunt for safety.

Double bonus points for Penrith and Blackburn

TABLE

SECOND XV :

Were away playing second in the table Sale and lost 71v0