So Close

The morning fog had cleared and the pitch seemed in good condition after the Christmas break.

Chris Downham, James Gough and Matty Houghton returned to the team, but Zane Butler and Garry Holmes were missing.

Wirral started the game strongly, kicking off towards the clubhouse end, and only some desperate last gasp defence, prevented an early opening score.

Wirral were down to fourteen men after just three minutes, after a reckless tackle as Kendal ran out of defence, saw No.7 Rob Pearl given a yellow card.

Despite this Wirral continued to have the better of the early play, and there was a let off for Kendal, as they were penalised in their own twenty two, for failing to release after a tackle, when trying to again play their way out of defence. Wirral ran the penalty, and seemed fortunate to be awarded a second one, for Kendal failing to retreat, after messing it up. This time they went for the posts and the penalty came back off the post.

With Wirral restored to fifteen men, Kendal started to come more into the game and got the opening score after twenty minutes of play. Glenn Weightman put a long penalty kick to touch, and when Wirral decided not to defend the lineout, Liam Hayton exploited the gap to break through. The forwards drove to the line, but the ball was held up. The Kendal pack had been on top in the scrum, and after going for an initial drive, instead Chris Downham picked up quickly, to feed James Gough who went in for the score. 5v0

The score seemed to wake Wirral up again, and they took the lead five minutes later. After Kendal had defended a long string of Wirral attacks, when a man going for the line was adjudged to have been high tackled, the referee awarded a penalty try, which was converted, 5v7. No further action was taken against the Kendal player.

Three minutes later Wirral were down to fourteen men again. Shortly after being warned for giving a penalty away, when slowing Kendal ball at a ruck, No.5 Chris Tyson transgress again and was given a yellow card.

The penalty was put to touch and again the forwarded drove for the line, but Wirral not only managed to hold them out, but prevent Kendal getting the ball to ground, to win the put in at the scrum. The advantage was short lived as the Kendal pack forced a turnover for their own put in. A golden opportunity to regain the lead was lost, as as they drove for the line, the ball was lost at the back of the scrum, and Wirral were able to clear their lines.

There was no further score, with Wirral taking their narrow lead into half time. 5v7

Wirral extended their lead early in the second half. Several Kendal backs failed to tidy up a loose ball, and the Kendal pack, which otherwise had a good game, were slow getting back to support them, allowing Wirral to steal the ball, but they were held up on the line.

From the resulting scrum, after the forwards had probed the centre of the field, the ball was moved right, for a try by outside half Craig Harvey. 5v12.

Again Kendal fought their way back into the game, but a number of dropped passes meant they could not gain any momentum, whilst a number of poor attempts to chip over the Wirral defence instead fell into Wirral hands.

Kendal finally got the breakthrough after twenty minutes. Another long penalty kick from Glenn Weightman, took them into the Wirral twenty two. The forwards drove from the lineout, and after driving Wirral over the line, James Gough was credited with a second try. 10v12.

Wirral put the re-start kick direct to touch to hand the initiative back to Kendal.

With the scores so close, when awarded a penalty just inside the Wirral half, Glenn Weightman went for the posts, but could not find the target.

With six minutes of normal time to play, Kendal took the lead. With Kendal on the attack Wirral were caught offside and Chris Park put the kick over. 13v12.

Wirral again put the re-start kick directly to touch.

Kendal made their first and only change with Ross McKay being replaced by James Thompson.

The game then turned on a Kendal error. Glenn Weightman put a kick deep into the Wirral half, but the initiative was loss as two Kendal forwards chased the kick from in front of Weightman, giving away a penalty, which put Wirral in attack instead of defence.

Wirral stepped up several gears, driving through tackles, and after several attacks had been stopped, the ball was moved to the left for a try in the corner, which was also excellently converted 13v19.

With only two minutes to play, Kendal went looking for a winning score, and made good ground, and even when an error lead to a scrum, the pack stole the Wirral put in, but time ran out and Wirral players and supporters breathed a huge sigh of relief.

On this performance Kendal made Wirral look far from a top three team, and probably demonstrated the gulf between Huddersfield and the rest of the league.

For Kendal, the editor’s programme notes that “mistakes can prove costly” proved prophetic. An excellent performance was let down by a few handling errors and some poor decision making with the two wings rarely seeing the ball.

Two key games to come in the next fortnight. Next weekend away at Lymm, who sit just two points behind Kendal (having played an extra game), then a week later (14th) an extra game, with the re-arranged home game against Ilkley (assuming pitch conditions suit them) who are four points behind, having missed the opportunity to narrow the gap, having narrowly lost to Cleckheaton

KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH : Glenn Chesher
Just edging out Ben Leacock.
Glenn is a consistent performer, picking up more votes in total so far this season than any other player, plus votes in more matches.